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Feud erupts between Elon Musk and Microsoft—with one side threatening to sue the other for ‘illegally’ using its data

By
Dina Bass
Dina Bass
and
Bloomberg
Bloomberg
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By
Dina Bass
Dina Bass
and
Bloomberg
Bloomberg
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April 19, 2023, 7:12 PM ET
Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Microsoft said its social media planning and scheduling tools for advertisers will no longer support Twitter, after the Elon Musk-owned social network started charging for access to its programming interface. 

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Musk responded to the announcement by accusing Microsoft of using Twitter data “illegally” and threatening a lawsuit. The billionaire, who bought Twitter last year, is changing the company’s policy to charge businesses for access to its stream of data.

Microsoft’s Smart Campaigns service helps advertisers manage social media campaigns on services including Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. As of April 25, users of the product won’t be able to do things like create tweets and drafts, or see past tweets and engagement, the company said Wednesday.

The software maker is the biggest investor in OpenAI, the AI research lab Musk co-founded before falling out with the team and leaving in 2018. Musk is now establishing his own rival AI effort. 

Microsoft didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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