Twitter Settles High-Profile Legal Fight Over Data Access

Twitter has agreed to give data-mining startup PeopleBrowsr access to its "firehose" through the end of this year. After that, PeopleBrowsr can acquire similar data through an authorized reseller.
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Twitter and PeopleBrowsr have settled a court case that charged Twitter with improperly cutting off PeopleBrowsr’s access to a “firehose” of tweet data. Under the terms of the settlement PeopleBrowsr will get access to the firehose through the end of the year and thereafter acquire similar data from an authorized reseller.

The deal marks a significant retreat for Twitter, which had tried to cut off PeopleBrowsr effective Nov. 30 of last year amid a broader reduction in data sharing with app developers. PeopleBrowsr was the rare developer shop that fought Twitter’s moves in court, and it has been successful there: The company convinced a state superior court judge to grant a temporary restraining order preserving its access, and successfully fought a motion to have the case moved to federal court. PeopleBrowsr had charged Twitter with unfair competition and breaking a promise PeopleBrowsr had relied upon (“promissory estoppel”).

PeopleBrowsr executive Andrew Grill.

Photo: PeopleBrowsr

“We’re thrilled it is settled,” says Andrew Grill, CEO of PeopleBrowsr's Kred division. “It means we can focus on all the products we’ve been developing.”

The favorable settlement of PeopleBrowsr's case could encourage other aggrieved Twitter partners to seek redress. PeopleBrowsr's argument rested in part on the notion that Twitter made binding public statements that led startups to believe they'd be able to access the company's data indefinitely. “Twitter has repeatedly and consistently promised that it would maintain an ‘open ecosystem’ for its data," PeopleBrowsr wrote in an early court filing.

As for the impact of the settlement on PeopleBrowsr, Grill says it means the company will be able to continue to offer Twitter data to its customers. He says the case never interfered with the data-mining services it sells to clients, who include the Department of Defense, Bloomberg LLC, Procter & Gamble, and eBay. The settlement stipulates that after the transition off the Twitter firehose, PeopleBrowsr can buy similar data from an authorized re-seller, meaning Gnip, DataSift, or Topsy. Grill expects PeopleBrowsr will be able to obtain enough data from a re-seller to continue offering the same services to its clients. PeopleBrowsr says it's not yet clear whether its costs will rise.

PeopleBrowsr broadened its offerings beyond Twitter as its suit against the microblogging platform rolled on. In February it acquired Facebook analytics company Swaylo, which doubled PeopleBrowsr’s database from 250 million Twitter profiles to 500 million Twitter and Facebook profiles. Also during the course of the case against Twitter, PeopleBrowsr expanded its Kred service, which ranks people based on social influence, with an offering called "Kred for Facebook" as well as a business service called Kred for Brands. Grill says PeopleBrowsr has continued to grow during the litigation.

In addition to broadening into Facebook analytics, PeopleBrowsr is looking at the possibility of pulling data from Google+, Tumblr, and WordPress. And therein lies one key lesson from the Twitter/PeopleBrowsr fight: No matter how useful one platform’s data might be, and no matter how many noble promises they make, it’s always wise for a startup to hedge its bets with other options.

This article has been modified from the original, which misstated Andrew Grill's title. 6:43 pm ET