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Because their customers are advertisers, and their users are people who follow Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber. It's not the same service as it was when it started, when the API was important to them.

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If Twitter charged to send tweets (like Facebook is now doing) then they wouldn't need to crack down on third-party clients.

But who wants to pay to tweet? With the business and culture they've built, they don't have a way to go back. They have to stay free for everyone, they have to show ads to make money, and they have to kill 3rd party apps to make sure the ads get seen their way.

If you want Twitter-that-was, ADN is your best bet at this point.

> If Twitter charged to send tweets (like Facebook is now doing)

How's that working out for Facebook?

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