Anyone else having a hard time to get access to elevated access? I’m just making a simple tweet puller and tweeter but somehow essential access is returning an error:
“You currently have Essential access which includes access to Twitter API v2 endpoints only. If you need access to this endpoint, you’ll need to apply for Elevated access via the Developer Portal. You can learn more here: Getting Started with the Twitter API | Docs | Twitter Developer Platform”
Did you get approval or a reply?
I managed to get Elevated Access approval instantly, but I am still getting the error message you describe. I don’t know if there’s a delay in the settings taking effect
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What endpoints / library are you trying to use? You should be able to call v2 Endpoints for both of these, without needing Elevated Access.
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Before I submit my application for elevated access, I’m trying to confirm the following: Can I create a bot that will do keyword searches and post automated replies based on those results? If not, is the functionality for posting replies only for people who have Tweeted to you? That doesn’t seem very useful, but I’m just trying to confirm what you can and cannot do.
I’ve seen the following advice for applying for elevated access:
- I’m not going to analyze Tweets, Twitter users, or their content
- I’m not going to interact with Twitter users or their content
- I’m not going to display Twitter content off of Twitter
And in Twitter API’s documentation, it states, “[Don’t] Spam or bother users, or otherwise send them unsolicited messages.”
The entire business model of Twitter hinges on “’bothering’ users” and “sending unsolicited messages.” “I’m not going to interact with Twitter users or their content”—and yet they provide the functionality for doing exactly that? Or does this whole thing come down to the idea that you can send Replies and Direct Messages, but only to people who have contacted you first (and you’re agreeing not to do these other “bad” things)?
Thank you for your time and I appreciate any input you can provide.
Yes this is possible with v2 API only. You do not need Elevated Access.
However, be aware that there are Automation Rules for this kind of bot - and that part is more important. Elevated Access has no bearing on these rules, they apply to everyone: Twitter's automation development rules | Twitter Help
Yep, this is exactly it!
Did you manage to figure this out?
First off, thank you very much for your prompt reply and clarity – I’m finally getting down to answers I’ve been trying to get. I thought Elevated Access was required for doing any sort of write activity, so I’m not even sure what Elevated Access is for now.
Leaving that aside – assuming my use case is possible as you stated (using v2 API): If I’m just replicating would I do manually, would that still be classified as being in viloation of the rules (even if I just send 20 replies a day)? By their policy, it seems that just sending a single unsolited message is against the rules – which seems ludicrous to me, because the entire basis of their platform rests on people sending unsolicited messages.
I totally understand the objection if I were sending tons of unsolicited replies, but given their rule of “There is a user rate limit of 200 requests per 15 minutes for the POST method” – even a hundred replies a day seems pretty reasonable to me (which could certainly be done manually by someone putting some time in).
You’ve been extremely helpful already, but is there any line where this bot could do what I want and remain in compliance?
Thanks again!
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No idea! I’m not twitter, but i think even twitter themselves don’t even know exactly how the anti spam system will behave hypothetically because it’s a big mess of algos and rules etc that are specific to each situation. The API is generally much more restrictive than using the official clients for reaching out to people, so i guess posting manually would work to an extent.
We’re not able to provide guidance to every single developer use case, but in our experience, apps that post automated content to users via @mentions to get attention (this is what we mean by unsolicted, i.e. when the user has not first mentioned or otherwise obviously interacted with the account the app is posting through) have historically not been good participants on the platform, unfortunately. As a result, the systems tend to default to taking action / flagging apps earlier rather than later.
So, my advice would be to ensure that you only interact with users that have already interacted with your service.
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Thank you for your input. While I certainly understand that you can’t provide guidance to every use case, I don’t understand why you couldn’t just have checkboxes you click to identify why you denied elevated access. It turns out that I don’t even need Elevated Access. Apparently, I was misinformed by some video (because I got that impression from somewhere). In any case, it seems there’s a lot of confusion out there.
For example, one bullet point in a boilerplate list I’ve seen for recommendations in applying for Elevated Access: “I’m not going to analyze Tweets, Twitter users, or their content.” And yet, at the very top of About the Twitter API section, it reads, “The Twitter API can be used to programmatically retrieve and analyze Twitter data, as well as build for the conversation on Twitter.”
Now, on that point – your documentation is pretty clear (I’m just pointing out that somehow there’s some confusion in this community).
“ensure that you only interact with users that have already interacted with your service” . . .
As I wrote earlier: The entire business model of Twitter hinges on “’bothering’ users” and “sending unsolicited messages.” Without that, you’ve got nothing.
If I did a search and manually responded to 20 Tweets in a day – that wouldn’t be spam, “bothering’ users,” and “sending unsolicited messages," right? But if automate the same process for those same 20 Tweets, then it becomes spam, “bothering’ users,” and “sending unsolicited messages"?
Please advise – and thank you for your time!
I’ve provided my advice with a link to the relevant information about the automation rules - there’s nothing more that I can add here.
You’re choosing not to answer because you’re being careful, which is not the same as “there’s nothing more that I can add here.” I asked for your help – not a link to a policy I already have.
This is not conversation – and lo and behold, neither is anything on Twitter.
Good day.
My advice remains that you should not build an app that automates unsolicited mentions, as these are against the rules and will most likely be suspended by our systems.
“most likely” is precisely to the point of what I’ve been saying all along: It’s not precise – and I fail to understand how something so programmatic could be so imprecise. If you don’t want developers to do something, then why does the functionaliity exist for them to do what you don’t want them to do? Why not just prevent it in the first place?
It’s just preposterous that Twitter is trying to prevent something you’re entire platform rests on. You could just cap it at what a person could manually do in a day. But why reconsider anything when your entire user base won’t either.
