Skip to main content

Twitter suspends Twitdroyd and UberTwitter apps

twitter-twitdroyd-ubertwitter-supendedTwitter is experiencing some growing pains. Last week, CEO Dick Costolo spoke at the Mobile World Congress about how dedicated Twitter is to unifying the tweeting experience across all devices. Today, Twitter has begun to fight apps that don’t follow its policies. The social network has suspended three of its major third party apps–Twitdroyd, UberCurrent, and UberTwitter–for violating its use policies. The charge: failing to keep private messages private, exceeding 140 char length limit, violating trademark, and making money off tweets in suspicious ways.

“Today we suspended several applications, including UberTwitter, twidroyd and UberCurrent, which have violated Twitter policies and trademarks in a variety of ways,” spokespersons for Twitter, have told multiple Websites via email. “These violations include, but aren’t limited to, a privacy issue with private Direct Messages longer than 140 characters, trademark infringement, and changing the content of users’ Tweets in order to make money.

Recommended Videos

UberMedia

UberMedia, a company that has recently been in talks to purchase TweetDeck, owns the three apps. Speaking directly about UberMedia, spokesperson Matt Graves told PC Mag that action had to be taken.

“We’ve had conversations with UberMedia, the developer of these applications, about policy violations since April 2010, when they first launched under the name TweetUp – a term commonly used by Twitter users and a trademark violation,” said Graves.”We continue to be in contact with UberMedia and hope that they will bring the suspended applications into compliance with our policies soon.”

In an interview with TechCrunch, UberMedia CEO Bill Gross said the company plans to fix its apps: “We just talked to Twitter and discussed the various issues they raise. It took us by surprise because they didn’t raise them before. We started making the changes.” The CEO claims that UberMedia’s apps will soon be in compliance and is changing the name of its client from UberTwitter to UberSocial, effective immediately.

UberMedia is in talks to acquire TweetDeck, one of the most popular Twitter clients.

Use our App instead

Twitter also  responded to users reporting issues with the three apps on its support site, pointing them toward its own apps for iOS, Android, and BlackBerry.

In its early days, Twitter has been one of the most supportive platforms for third party applications and clients. However, in the last year, the social network has finally begun to update and expand its own range of services. Now, many of the services that helped it become large are quickly becoming rivals to its own internal efforts to broaden Twitter’s appeal.

Update: Bill Gross has clarified some of the reasons Twitter suspended UberMedia’s apps on Quora.

Jeffrey Van Camp
As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…
I found the best Prime Day deal on a tablet hidden beyond Amazon
Microsoft Surface Pro 12-inch, stylus, and keyboard.

A good tablet can take your productivity to the next level, but a boring one will find a niche use and eat dust on a table or couch for most of its time. I love iPads and have been pushing them – as far as I can — to act as my primary computing machine for nearly half a decade now. It has never managed to replace a proper laptop, like a MacBook Air or a Windows machine. 

Why not buy a Windows laptop, you might ask? Well, Windows-powered tablets, especially those Surface devices sold by Microsoft, are pretty expensive. I love the new 12-inch Surface Pro, but at $799, it felt like a steep purchase despite its impressive specifications. 

Read more
Prime Day is over, but this powerful Dell laptop is still at its lowest price
The Dell Vostro 3530 laptop on a white background.

Prime Day is already over, but that doesn't mean that there are no more laptop deals for you to shop on Amazon. Here's one that caught our eye -- the Dell Vostro 3530 with 32GB of RAM for its lowest-ever price of $649, following a 28% discount on its original price of $899. This limited-time offer of $250 off may not last much longer though, so if you want to take advantage of this bargain, we highly recommend that you finalize your purchase for this device as soon as you can.

Buy Now

Read more
This Lenovo all-in-one computer is 30% off even though Prime Day has ended
The Lenovo V100 All-in-One Desktop Computer on a white background.

Even though Prime Day is already finished, there are still some excellent desktop computer deals on Amazon. If you don't have much space, or you just want to avoid clutter, you should take a look at the Lenovo V100 All-in-One PC. From its original price of $800, it's all the way down to just $560 following a 30% discount. The offer for this machine will only be available for a limited time though, so you need to act fast and proceed with the transaction immediately to secure the savings of $240.

Buy Now

Read more