Elon Musk’s Twitter is accusing Microsoft of violating its data use policy, saying the tech giant has not adhered to its agreement for data use “for an extended period of time.”
In a letter obtained by the New York Times, Alex Spiro, the personal lawyer for Twitter owner Elon Musk, accused Microsoft of improperly using Twitter data, such as using more than what it was supposed to, sharing data with government agencies without permission, and not paying for its data usage.
“Microsoft may have been in violation of multiple provisions of the agreement for an extended period of time,” Spiro wrote in the letter to Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella.
Elon Musk’s Halloween costume (Taylor Hill /Getty)
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (TOBIAS SCHWARZ/Getty)
The letter may be foreshadowing Twitter’s attempt to get Microsoft to pay for data, as Musk has expressed in the past that he wants the social media site to become profitable, and recently made a number of moves incentivizing users to pay for the platform.
Spiro’s letter to Nadella does not clarify whether Twitter will take legal action against Microsoft or if it will ask for any compensation.
The letter simply demands that the tech giant abide by the social media platform’s developer agreement and examine the data usage of eight of its apps, the report noted.
Meanwhile, Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw told the New York Times that the company does not currently pay Twitter for its data, and that it had received Twitter’s letter, which it will review and eventually respond to.
“We look forward to continuing our long-term partnership with the company,” Shaw said.
Last month, Musk tweeted, “They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time,” in response to a post about Microsoft dropping the social media platform from its advertising and allegedly refusing to pay Twitter’s API fees.
They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023
As Breitbart News previously reported, Musk has also proclaimed that he has doubts about the artificial intelligence (AI) organization OpenAI — the start-up behind the popular ChatGPT chatbot — due to its close ties to Microsoft.
In December, Musk reportedly cut OpenAI off from Twitter’s data. While OpenAI had paid $2 million per year for access to the data, the Tesla CEO did not think that amount was not enough to fairly compensate his social media company.
Also in December, billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates knocked Musk’s “seat-of-the-pants” control of Twitter, feeling it will increase digital polarization.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.