Twitter, the popular social media platform, may be heading towards further platform instability in the near future. Back in 2018, Twitter entered into a lucrative $1 billion contract with tech giant Google, hosting some of its services on Google Cloud servers. However, recent reports from Platformer indicate that Twitter has refused to make the necessary payment to Google ahead of the contract’s renewal date on June 30th. As a result, Twitter is now scrambling to migrate its services away from Google’s infrastructure before the contract expires, but the process is said to be “running behind schedule.” This delay puts several tools, including Smyte, a platform acquired by Twitter in 2018 to enhance its moderation capabilities, at risk of going offline.
The potential repercussions of failing to migrate the system to its own servers before the end of the month are significant. Platformer warns that a shutdown would greatly impact Twitter’s ability to combat issues such as spam and the distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Even before this recent development, Smyte had been showing signs of strain, particularly following the company’s workforce reduction efforts initiated by Elon Musk. In December, Musk questioned Twitter’s trust and safety team regarding why the automated system had failed to detect a Twitter Blue user impersonating him to promote a cryptocurrency scam. The team explained that the system had been unstable for a week, crashing at least once a day.
Platform instability has become a recurring issue for Twitter 2.0. In February, the platform experienced multiple incidents where its core features went offline. More recently, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis faced difficulties when attempting to announce his bid for the Republican presidential nomination due to Twitter Spaces being unable to handle the overwhelming number of people trying to access the broadcast.
If Twitter indeed intends to renege on its contract with Google, it wouldn’t be the first time the company has faced legal issues related to contractual obligations. Towards the end of last year, California Property Trust, the owner of the building housing Twitter’s headquarters, filed a lawsuit against the company for failure to pay rent.
As Twitter races against the clock to migrate its services away from Google’s infrastructure, the platform’s users are left to wonder about the potential consequences. The outcome of this situation will undoubtedly have a significant impact on Twitter’s ability to combat abuse, maintain platform stability, and safeguard its user base.
