Elon Musk threatens legal action against Microsoft over alleged illegal use of Twitter data

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has issued a vague legal threat against Microsoft, accusing the company of using Twitter data illegally. Musk's statement was a response to a tweet that mentioned Microsoft's advertising platform would no longer support Twitter, allegedly due to Twitter's recent changes that require payment to access its API.

OpenAI, the company responsible for creating products such as ChatGPT, received a noteworthy investment from Microsoft, which is actively incorporating AI into its platforms such as Bing, Edge, and Microsoft 365. However, it is important to note that OpenAI and Microsoft are separate entities. This has led some to speculate that Musk's legal threat is related to OpenAI's use of Twitter data to train its language models.

“They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time,” Musk tweeted.

It remains unclear whether Musk will follow through with his threat to sue Microsoft, as he has made similar threats in the past that did not result in legal action. For example, he previously threatened legal action against the creator of the @ElonJet Twitter account.

Microsoft has stated that it will no longer support Twitter on its advertising platform as of April 25, 2023. This means that companies will no longer be able to use Microsoft's platform to manage their tweets or engagement. 

Twitter's new pricing arrangement requires large companies like Microsoft to pay up to $42,000 per month to access the social media platform's API. As a result, some smaller developers, such as Tweetbot maker Tapbots, have already abandoned the platform.

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