Like other social media platforms,
Twitter has long provided free access to its
platform data to unbiased academics so
they may examine anything from online
trolling to the dissemination of false information.
These studies have been crucial in helping
us comprehend the strategies that con artists,
malevolent actors, and other bad actors
that want to use social media employ.
But now that Twitter has unexpectedly revealed
its intentions to limit access to this data and
charge for it last week, academics fear
that the future of their study is in jeopardy.