PeopleBrowsr and Twitter settle Firehose dispute

The settlement between the two firms grants PeopleBrowsr a further eight months of access to the Firehose, which is the full stream of data and content created by Twitter users. From next year, PeopleBrowsr will have to source data from one of Twitter’s authorised data resellers – either DataSift, Gnip or Topsy.

PeopleBrowsr sued Twitter after Twitter tried to cut off PeopleBrowsr’s Firehose supply in November. Twitter argued that it was allowed to do so, as the two firms were on a monthly rolling contract that could be terminated by either party by giving 30 days notice, however a court granted PeopleBrowsr a temporary restraining order to have the Firehose re-opened until the case was resolved.

In a statement sent to Techcrunch, a Twitter spokesperson said: “We’re pleased to have this matter dismissed with prejudice, and look forward to PeopleBrowsr’s transition by the end of the year off of the Firehose to join the ecosystem of developers utilising Twitter data via our reseller partnerships.”