According to an individual familiar with the matter, Twitter has resumed making payments to Google Cloud, a subsidiary of Alphabet, as reported by Bloomberg. The news comes after a recent report by Platformer indicated that Twitter had declined to settle its bills with Google Cloud during contract renewal. Linda Yaccarino, the new CEO of the social media network, played a pivotal role in restoring Twitter's relationship with Google. As a result, the two companies are now exploring the possibility of a more extensive partnership. This potential collaboration would involve Google increasing its advertising expenditure on Twitter and utilising the social media platform's data access tool, as revealed by the insider.
Since Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter in October, the company has been focused on cost reduction measures. Consequently, Twitter has encountered legal challenges from landlords, vendors, and consultants due to unpaid invoices. Despite multiple requests for comment, Twitter has not responded, while a spokesperson from Google has declined to provide a statement.
The disagreement between Twitter and Google Cloud stems from the impending expiration of their contract, according to the Platformer report. Failure to settle its Google Cloud bills could have severe consequences for Twitter's trust and safety teams, although the specific impact remains undisclosed. The Information disclosed that negotiations to revise the contract have been ongoing since at least March.
To host its services, Twitter relies on a combination of its own servers as well as cloud platforms from Amazon and Google, as outlined in the Platformer report. In March, it was revealed that Amazon had notified Twitter about withholding advertising payments due to outstanding bills for cloud computing services provided by Amazon Web Services, as reported by The Information.
Upon Musk's involvement, Twitter implemented substantial cost-cutting measures, resulting in a significant reduction in its workforce. A source cited by Reuters in November indicated that Musk instructed the company to reduce infrastructure expenses, including cloud service expenditures, by a remarkable $1 billion.
In a recent announcement, Musk stated that Twitter would commence compensating content creators for ads displayed within their replies, with an initial block payment of $5 million. The compensation will only be provided to verified creators, and ads served to verified users will be taken into account.
"In a few weeks, X/Twitter will start paying creators for ads served in their replies. First block payment totals $5M. Note, the creator must be verified and only ads served to verified users count," Musk stated in a tweet.