Twitter Refuses to Pay Google Cloud Bills Ahead of Contract Renewal: Report

Twitter has refused to pay its Google Cloud bills as its contract comes up for renewal this month, which could result in the social media company's trust and safety teams being crippled, Platformer reported on Saturday.

Before Elon Musk's takeover of the social media platform last year, Twitter signed a multi-year contract with Google related to fighting spam and protecting accounts, among other things, the report said.

The Platformer report did not give details on how the conflict between the companies could hinder Twitter's trust and safety teams. The Information said Twitter has been trying to renegotiate its contract with Google since at least March.

Twitter hosts some services on its server and houses others on the cloud platforms of Amazon and Google, Platformer said.

In March, Amazon warned Twitter that it would withhold advertising payments because of the company's outstanding bills to Amazon Web Services for cloud computing services, according to the Information.

Since Musk's acquisition, Twitter has cut costs dramatically and laid off thousands of employees. Musk ordered the company to cut infrastructure costs, such as spending on cloud services, by $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,243 crore), a source had told Reuters in November.

Twitter did not immediately respond to an email inquiry while Google did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, Twitter's head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, told Reuters that she has resigned from the social media company, which has faced criticism for lax protections against harmful content since Musk acquired it in October.

Irwin, who joined Twitter in June 2022, took over as head of the trust and safety team in November when previous head Yoel Roth resigned. She oversaw content moderation.

A day later, Twitter's head of brand safety and ad quality, AJ Brown, also decided to leave the company.

© Thomson Reuters 2023