Twitter refuses to pay for Google Cloud contract

According to Engadget , in 2018, Twitter signed a $1 billion deal with Google to host some of its services on Google Cloud servers. But now, the company is reportedly rushing to move more services off Google's infrastructure before the contract expires. However, these efforts are "slowly progressing," leading to some tools like Smyte - a platform the company acquired in 2018 to enhance its moderation capabilities - being at risk of being shut down.

If Twitter fails to migrate the system to its own servers before the end of June, it could render the company's anti-spam and anti-child sexual abuse (CSAM) features inoperable.

This comes as the trust team was asked by billionaire Elon Musk why the company's automated systems failed to catch the bug, in connection with a report of a Twitter user impersonating him to conduct a cryptocurrency scam. The team later told Musk that the system had been unstable for a week, crashing "at least once a day."

If Twitter is indeed planning to make things difficult for Google, this wouldn’t be the first time the company has defaulted on a contract. Late last year, California Property Trust — the owner of the building that houses Twitter’s headquarters — sued the company for failing to pay rent.