Twitter Acquires Online Safety Company Smyte and Shuts It Down Right After [Updated]

• Social media platform Twitter announced that the company acquired Smyte, a startup focused on delivering online safety and anti-spam solutions.
• Less than a day after the acquisition was announced, Twitter shut down the startup’s API without notice.
• The current user base of the online safety app was left confused as the service went down without any warning.

Twitter made its latest acquisition yesterday by purchasing online safety company Smyte. The San Francisco-based startup was founded to offer specialized services that deal with online safety, security and anti-spam solutions. Twitter announced in a blog yesterday that the company is acquiring Smyte to use the technology for its own platform. It would be convenient for everyone had a shutdown period been notified by Twitter so existing customers would be able to migrate to other services with little difficulty.

Twitter as a platform has been having difficulties with spam, security, and hate-speech. A service like Smyte can help the social media platform curb such issues. But, the people behind Smyte did not realize that the company’s API would be shut down without any notification. Earlier today, Smyte was shut down, and users were left stranded. Some of the users claimed that they had existing contracts and were not notified that the platform would be shutting down. With high-profile clients like GoFundMe, Indiegogo, and Zendesk being unaware of the platform shutting down without notice, Twitter users have not taken the move very lightly and have voiced their opinions on the platform.

Usually, large acquisitions often involve the smaller companies continuing to function normally for extended periods of time until the transition is complete. In case of Smyte and Twitter, it does not seem to be the case. When asked why the Smyte API was shut down, Twitter chose not to comment on the situation. However, Smyte contract owners stated that Twitter had contacted the customers to offer them contacts to new service providers who can handle their online security needs.

Update: We received a response today. Zendesk stated, "I am writing from Zendesk. This is in regards to the story that was filed. Yesterday, a service Zendesk uses to prevent the creation of fraudulent accounts was acquired by Twitter. The vendor ceased all business operations immediately. At Zendesk we do not rely on a single vendor. We also have our own tools built in-house to ensure the safety of our customers. As of yesterday we also began enforcing email validation for all trial registrations. We do not expect any negative impact on our customers."

What do you think about Twitter’s sudden move to shut down the platform? Do you think we will get anti-abuse features on Twitter now that the acquisition is a done deal? Let us know in the comments below. Get instant updates on TechNadu’s Facebook page, or Twitter handle.