Twitter Reportedly Declines to Honor Google Cloud Agreement
Twitter may face further instability on its platform as it has reportedly refused to pay Google ahead of the renewal date for its $1 billion contract signed in 2018. The contract allowed Twitter to host some of its services on Google Cloud servers. In an effort to move services off of Google’s infrastructure before the contract expires on June 30th, Twitter is rushing, but the process is running behind schedule. This puts some tools, including Smyte, which Twitter acquired in 2018 to enhance its moderation capabilities, at risk of going offline.
If Twitter is unable to migrate the system to its own servers before the end of the month, Platformer suggests that the shutdown would greatly affect the company’s ability to combat spam and child sexual exploitation material (CSAM). Smyte had already shown signs of tension before Saturday after Elon Musk’s Twitter job cuts. In December, Musk reportedly asked Twitter’s trust and security team why an automated system hadn’t caught a Twitter Blue user who had impersonated him pumping a crypto scam. The team told Musk that the system had been unstable for a week, crashing “at least once a day.”
Platform instability has been a hallmark of Twitter 2.0. In February, many of the platform’s core features deteriorated more than once. Recently, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis struggled to announce his bid for the Republican presidential nomination after Twitter Spaces couldn’t handle the flow of people wanting to broadcast. If Twitter is indeed planning to go after Google, it wouldn’t be the first time the company has dreamed up a deal. At the end of last year, the owner of the Twitter headquarters building, California Property Trust, sued the company for non-payment of rent.
