X API Tools Lost Likes, Follows and Quote-Posts in April 2026. Here Is What Quietly Stopped Working

Your scheduling tool still has an "auto-like" toggle, and the dashboard says the task ran. X announced that from 20 April 2026, a self-serve app can no longer like anything through the API. Whether you noticed depends on how the tool handles an error it may never show you.

This piece is for people who run X accounts through third-party tools: what X removed, which features broke, how to tell whether your tool uses the API or your browser, and where X's rules put each route. Every date comes from X's developer changelog or forum, checked on 24 September 2026.

What did X remove from the self-serve API, and when?

Three steps over eight months, each hitting a different group of tools.

The August 2025 notice justified the first step as fighting "platform manipulation, and fake engagement" and told affected developers to upgrade to a paid tier. Eight months later, the paid tiers lost the same endpoints.

The February notice, titled "Addressing LLM-Generated Spam," explained that a reply is now accepted only if the original author "@mentions the replying user/account in their post" or "quotes a post from the replying user/account." Otherwise "attempts to post a reply via the API will be blocked/rejected." It named the affected plans: "legacy Free, Basic, Pro subscriptions, and Pay-per-use packages." Enterprise was untouched.

The April changelog entry and the matching forum announcement list exactly what was to go: <code>POST /2/users/{id}/following</code> and its unfollow, <code>POST /2/users/{id}/likes</code> and its unlike, and quote-posting through <code>POST /2/tweets</code> with the <code>quote_tweet_id</code> parameter. The same update raised a post to $0.015, set posts containing a URL at $0.20 ("except for summoned replies," which stay at $0.01), and cut reads of your own data to $0.001 per resource.

One forum thread shows why this was easy to miss. On 17 April a developer asked whether the Pro plan was exempt and pointed out that "the impact on clients is very significant." On 21 April, a day after the announced date, they reported that follow, like and quote requests on Pro "are still successful." An X staff member replied that engineering had "ran into a hiccup resulting in a slight delay, but the changes are still planned to take place." So if your tool worked on launch day, that proved nothing. If you tested once in late April and moved on, test again.

Which tool features stopped working, and why you might not notice

Match the features you pay for against the table. "Self-serve API status" comes from the notices above; the last column quotes X's Automation rules (page dated April 2026).

Automated quote-posts are allowed by X's rulebook, in the same sentence as reposts, and they lost their self-serve channel anyway. So the API changes did more than enforce existing rules.

Why a broken feature can go unnoticed comes down to three things we saw while checking sources.

The reference docs lag. X's rate-limit page still lists <code>POST /2/users/:id/likes</code> at "50/15min, 1,000/24hrs" and the follow endpoint at 50 per 15 minutes, with no self-serve caveat in the table. The Enterprise-only marking exists, but it is added to the endpoint pages by a script on the docs site. A developer who builds from the rate-limit table can ship a feature that cannot work.

Marketing pages lag. Hypefury's pricing page FAQ answers "Does Hypefury still support 𝕏/Twitter?" with "Nope! Hypefury no longer supports 𝕏." On the same day, its homepage still advertised "Automated sales on 𝕏 (Twitter)." Hypefury does not say why it dropped X, and we don't claim the API changes were the reason. The point: a tool's homepage is not evidence of what it can currently do on X.

Errors are the tool's to surface. A task log that says "ran" may mean "attempted."

An endpoint being removed and an action being allowed are two separate questions. After the April change, most self-serve engagement automation fails the first. X's rulebook had already ruled against it on the second.

How to check whether your X tool uses the API or your browser

Three checks settle it for most tools.

1. Remember how you connected it. If you clicked "Authorize app" on an x.com screen, the tool uses the API through OAuth. If you logged in to X inside a browser window the tool opened, or installed a browser extension, it works through your session.
2. Open Settings and privacy, then the Apps and sessions section. X's help page on third-party apps says this is where you "review and revoke access" for connected apps, and where active login sessions are listed. An API tool appears as a connected app with named permissions. A browser-driven tool, in our understanding, does not appear there as an app.
3. Ask who pays X. X's pricing page describes "pay-per-usage pricing with no subscriptions." An API tool either passes that cost through or absorbs it. A tool that charges nothing per post and still offers likes and follows is almost certainly not using the self-serve API.

One more check, whatever the route: X's Developer Policy says developers "may not store X passwords, or request that people provide their X password." A tool that asks for your password has broken X's policy before doing anything else.

Where does the compliance line sit for each route?

Some guides point out that browser-based tools did not lose likes and follows in April. Technically true, but it leaves out the other half of X's rules.

The Automation rules list among the things not to do: "Use non-API-based forms of automation, such as scripting the X website. The use of these techniques may result in the permanent suspension of your account." They also ban automated liking outright, with no tier or route exception. On X, then, the channel you automate through is itself part of the rule, not just what you post and how often. X updates these pages without notice; the linked pages are the authority.

Put together, the options look like this:

• Self-serve API: original posts, threads and replies to people who @mention you still work. Replies to people who @mention you are within the rules only with opt-in and opt-out, and AI-written replies need X's approval. Likes, follows, quote-posts and unsummoned replies are gone.
• Enterprise API: the endpoints still exist, but Enterprise doesn't exempt you from the rules. Automated liking is still not allowed, following still can't be bulk, and an AI reply bot still needs X's written approval.
• Browser automation: can technically do everything a person can click, and is the route the rules single out as possible grounds for permanent suspension.
• By hand: likes, follows and replies you make yourself are what X's rules are written to protect.

Our recommendation after reading all of this: keep automating what X still allows through the API, which is publishing. Do engagement yourself, the likes, follows and replies to strangers, because that is the part X's API and its rules now restrict most tightly. How X enforces these rules, and how often, is not public. For the cost side of API publishing, see what a post costs through the X API. For how the rules treat AI agents, see X's automation rules for AI agents.

FAQ

Are X API Basic and Pro plans exempt from the April 2026 removal?

No. The April notice says "all self-serve tiers," and X's February notice defines self-serve as "legacy Free, Basic, Pro subscriptions, and Pay-per-use packages." A Pro user who asked on X's forum was told the change was delayed by "a hiccup," not cancelled.

Can I still auto-repost through the X API?

The April notice lists following, likes and quote-posts, not reposts, and X's rate-limit page still documents the repost endpoint. X's rules allow automated reposts for "entertainment, informational, or novelty purposes" and prohibit "bulk, aggressive, or spammy Reposting." Test it before relying on it.

If I pay for Enterprise, is automated liking allowed?

No. Enterprise gives you access to the endpoint. The Automation rules still say "You may not like posts or hide replies in an automated manner," with no exception for any plan. Endpoint access and permission are separate things on X. For the older free-tier history, see X API free tier limits in 2026.

Sources

1. X API changelog, entries of 16 April 2026 and 23 February 2026 — X Developer Platform — accessed 24 September 2026 — docs.x.com/changelog
2. X API Pricing Update: Owned Reads Now $0.001 + Other Changes Effective April 20, 2026 — X Developers forum — 16 April 2026 — devcommunity.x.com
3. X API v2 Update: Addressing LLM-Generated Spam — X Developers forum — 23 February 2026 — devcommunity.x.com
4. Update to X API Free Tier: Removal of Like and Follow Endpoints — X Developers forum — 22 August 2025 — devcommunity.x.com
5. Does the April 20th API update's changes to the "all self-serve tiers" include the Pro package? — X Developers forum — 17–21 April 2026 — devcommunity.x.com
6. Automation rules — X Help Center — updated April 2026 — help.x.com
7. Pricing — X API documentation — accessed 24 September 2026 — docs.x.com
8. Rate limits — X API documentation — accessed 24 September 2026 — docs.x.com
9. Developer Policy — X Developer Platform — accessed 24 September 2026 — docs.x.com
10. About third-party apps and log in sessions — X Help Center — accessed 24 September 2026 — help.x.com
11. Hypefury pricing page (FAQ) — Hypefury — accessed 24 September 2026 — hypefury.com/pricing
12. Hypefury homepage — Hypefury — accessed 24 September 2026 — hypefury.com