How a Twitter API suspension nearly killed my startup

🏖 It all started with a vacation

I took a week off to relax after a busy start to the year. During a Zoom call I couldn't avoid, I received alerts from my error monitoring system indicating something was wrong with my service.

⛔️ The suspension

Thread Creator, a tool for creating and scheduling Twitter threads, had its API access suspended. This rendered the entire product unusable—users couldn't publish threads, and new signups were impossible since login relied on Twitter authentication.

The error message provided minimal detail: "This App has violated Twitter Rules and policies. As a result, certain functions will be limited."

🙏 Grasping at straws

After checking the developer portal, I found only a generic violation message and was told to submit a support ticket that might take days to review. With hundreds of users stranded, I reached out through multiple channels: developer forums, Makerlog, direct messages to Twitter employees, and personal contacts.

Over 24 hours passed with no resolution.

🦸‍♂️ Enter a hero

Thirty hours after suspension, a Twitter employee responded to my outreach and escalated the issue to the support team.

🚀 Back in business

Support explained that a user had mentioned too many accounts in a single thread, triggering spam detection. After I committed to implementing additional safeguards, the suspension was lifted within 30 minutes.

📚 Takeaway Lessons

Three key recommendations emerged:

1. Implement proactive compliance measures ensuring users follow platform policies
2. Build relationships with company employees before needing assistance
3. Carefully consider platform dependency risk when building on third-party APIs

🙌 Let's connect

Follow my journey building self-funded startups on Twitter.