Q&A: What happened to academic research on Twitter?

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**Prior to Elon Musk’s** purchase of X, once called Twitter, the platform was a playground for academic research. Thanks to X’s free application programming interface, or API, thousands of papers were written based on its data. That all changed in February when Musk put the API behind a [paywall](https://www.cnet.com/news/social-media/twitter-api-is-going-behind-the-paywall/). A new survey reveals that over 100 projects were canceled, halted, or pivoted to other platforms as a result of these changes. Despite [hateful](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/15/technology/hate-speech-israel-gaza-internet.html) and [inaccurate](https://counterhate.com/blog/israel-gaza-crisis-x-fails-to-remove-98-of-posts-reported-by-the-ccdh-for-hate-and-extremism/) posts surging on X, researchers are now left with the fewest options for studying it.

The Coalition for Independent Technology Research, a group of researchers and journalists who work to defend the right to study the impact of technology on society, surveyed researchers affected by the new policies put in place by Musk. Of the 167 researchers surveyed, about half said they are increasingly worried about the potential legal repercussions of studying the platform. This concern comes after X’s July lawsuit [against](https://www.reuters.com/legal/musks-x-sues-nonprofit-that-fights-hate-speech-

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