Links and images were completely busted on Twitter for a spell on Monday on the company’s website and mobile apps. Clicking on a link brings up an error message that reads “Your current API plan does not include access to this endpoint, please check https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/twitter-api for more information.” As it happens, that link was broken for a while. A similar error message appeared to some users when they tried to access TweetDeck.
Service was gradually restored as of 12:43PM ET. Links seem to be working again and images are popping up in the timeline. TweetDeck is also back online.
Twitter’s last major outage was less than a week ago, just days after the company laid off dozens of employees. Twitter did not have a communications department that could be reached for comment. Oddly enough, its API status page has a message that reads “all systems operational.”
“Some features of Twitter may not work as expected today. We are making an internal change that has some unexpected consequences,” Twitter was able to share. in its Support account at 12:19PM ET. “We are currently working on this and will share an update when it is fixed.” Currently it is not possible to embed tweet due to busted API.
Twitter is in the midst of restricting its APIs, the tools that developers use to hook into the platform. The company said in early February that it would start charging for access to APIs.
Meanwhile, Twitter CEO Elon Musk responded to the outage. “This platform is brittle (sigh),” he wrote. “Good soon.” He later added that “a small API change has big consequences. The code stack is too brittle for no good reason. Ultimately a complete rewrite is needed.”
Many users and insiders feared that, after Musk took over Twitter in October and rapidly fired thousands of employees and contractors, the platform would collapse. Musk asked them to commit to a “harder” vision where they would work “long hours at high intensity” or leave the company. Twitter with a promise of three months severance pay.
Between Musk taking control of Twitter and late January, it is believed that about 80 percent of full-time workers left the company. Shortly after the mass departure began, a former employee spoke out The Washington Post that they know of six critical systems that “don’t have any engineers.” They added that Twitter “is going to coast until something happens, and then it’s going to stop.” While many expected the World Cup to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, it seems a regular Monday morning is enough to break Twitter.
Update 3/6 1:54PM ET: Added additional comments from Musk.