Elon Musk threatens lawsuit against Microsoft over alleged illegal Twitter data

WASHINGTON, April 20: Twitter chief Elon Musk has threatened to sue Microsoft after the technology giant announced plans to drop his social media company from its advertising platform.

"They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time," Musk tweeted. The tech giant earlier in a notice said that its advertising platform "will no longer support Twitter" from April 25. The move came in the wake of Twitter announcing fees to use its API, with access starting at USD 42,000 a month.

From April 25, users will no longer be able to access their Twitter accounts through Microsoft's Digital Marketing Center's social media management tool, according to Microsoft. Users will also no longer be able to schedule, create, or manage tweets or tweet drafts. In addition, users won't be able to view their past tweets and engagement on the Microsoft Advertising platform.

"Starting on April 25, 2023, Smart Campaigns with Multi-platform will no longer support Twitter," Microsoft said. A similar email has begun to go out to Microsoft Advertising users stating that "Digital Marketing Center (DMC) will no longer support Twitter starting on April 25, 2023."

Microsoft's announcement comes just one day after Twitter owner Elon Musk appeared at a major marketing and advertising conference.

At the event, Musk attempted to lure brands back to the platform after Twitter lost half of its biggest advertisers following his takeover of the company. The billionaire, Musk who bought Twitter last year, is changing the company's policy to charge businesses for access to its stream of data.

The Microsoft Advertising feature previously allowed advertisers to manage their social media accounts on various platforms in one place. Users could respond to tweets and DMs along with messages received on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

While Microsoft's social media service was provided for free to advertisers, it was prominently featured in Microsoft Advertising's Digital Marketing Center dashboard.

It worked alongside the platform's social and search paid advertising tools, which helped businesses run and manage their paid ad campaigns on platforms like Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram, and Microsoft's search advertising.

Microsoft made more than USD 12 billion in digital advertising revenue last year from ads that would be created, managed, and run through its Advertising platform.