NYC transit agency pulls the brake on Twitter servic...

We need a very user-friendly twitter-clone just for important civilian alerts like weather, traffic, and shootings.

Musk wants to charge high fees to cash-strapped businesses, etc., for access to the API so they can tweet real-time updates.

But while the message was quickly posted to the MTA’s website and app, the alert never made it to the subway system’s Twitter account, with its 1 million followers. The agency’s access to the platform’s back-end, officials soon learned, had been suspended by Twitter without warning.

Twitter has signaled that the days of private accounts disseminating troves of information at no cost may be ending. Last month, the company announced a new pricing system that would charge for access to its application programming interface, or API, which is used by accounts that post frequent alerts, such as transit and weather agencies.

MTA officials estimated the cost could run as high as $50,000 a month. For a transit agency that faces a multi-billion dollar deficit, paying that much raised concerns.

What a shame.