Twitter forces site that archives deleted tweets to go offline – update

Twitter has ordered a website that tracks deleted tweets from verified users to suspend its services for violating its developer agreement. The website in question, with the name PostGhost, has now complied with this.

The social networking site sent a letter to PostGhost explaining that archiving Twitter posts already deleted by the user goes against the terms of its Development Agreement and Policy. PostGhost is bound by this policy because it uses Twitter’s api. The letter was put online by PostGhost, which in turn also responded.

According to PostGhost, the website was created to “provide a more accurate picture of statements made by influential people.” The website only archived messages from verified users who have more than 10,000 followers. According to the creators of the archiving website, in the context of transparency, it is necessary to keep track of what influential people say on Twitter, because their statements have a major influence on social affairs.

Despite PostGhost’s disagreement with Twitter’s policies, the website will no longer be online. There are, however, other websites that keep track of deleted tweets, such as Politwoops. This website cannot count on Twitter’s approval either; Politwoops was banned from accessing Twitter’s api for violating its terms of use, but this was later reversed.

Monday, 11-07: Clarified that PostGhost violated the terms of use of the api.