Twitter stopped paying its Redis Labs bills, then Twitter Spaces failed DeSantis

Before Gov. DeSantis' glitchy campaign launch on Twitter Spaces, Twitter stopped paying Redis Labs--whose software is crucial for Twitter Spaces.

-- Article except: "Starting in 2015, Twitter paid a firm, Redis Labs, for the software to support Periscope, a live audio- and video-streaming service it had bought that year, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Twitter started Spaces in November 2020 during the pandemic-fueled fever for online audio forums, using Redis to support that, too. After Musk's takeover, Twitter stopped paying its Redis Labs bill but continued to use the Redis Cloud software, said a person with direct knowledge. At Redis Labs, executives discussed whether to shut off Twitter's use of its software or intentionally degrade the software's performance to pressure Twitter to pay, said the person. At the end of last year, Twitter put its contract with Redis Labs on a list of potential cuts, according to another person with direct knowledge of the move. At that time, the media infrastructure team that runs Spaces lobbied to keep the contract, calling Redis a "hard requirement" to operate the feature, the person said. (Mark Kalman, who runs the media infrastructure group under Musk, declined to comment.)

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/twitter-cut-key-soft...

It won't play out this way, but what if Musk's cheapness costs DeSantis the election? And tips it to Trump?