Twitter has stopped paying its Google Cloud bills, prompting concerns about what will happen to some of the services it hosts there, a report says

• Under Elon Musk's ownership, Twitter has stopped paying its Google Cloud bills, Platformer reported.
• It's unclear what will happen to some of the services hosted on Google Cloud, sources told the outlet.

Twitter has stopped paying its Google Cloud invoices as owner Elon Musk continues on his drastic cost-cutting spree, according to a report by Platformer.

The outlet reported that Twitter had signed a multi-year contract with Google in 2018 to host services on its servers including fighting spam and removing child sexual abuse material. The systems Twitters uses to find violent extremism and media containing gratuitous gore are all hosted on Google Cloud, Platformer reported.

Since Musk bought Twitter, which he claimed had been on the path to bankruptcy, he's clamped down on the company's finances. His most drastic move was laying off around half of Twitter's workforce the week after he took charge, and then laying off other staff incrementally ever since.

The tech mogul also cut back on free food for staff, auctioned off Twitter merchandise, and introduced charges to access some of the site's services, such as its blue-check verification program.

Musk has also stopped paying some bills, leading to lawsuits from companies who say they are owed money. The allegations range from unpaid invoices to marketing companies for branded merchandise to rent for Twitter's offices.

The Information previously reported that Twitter has been trying to renegotiate its Google contract for months, in which the social-media giant had committed to spending $1 billion over five years.

According to The Information's report, Twitter had ultimately continued to pay its Google Cloud bills because of the huge advertising revenue it gets from the company – but Platformer now reports that "at some point" it changed its mind and stopped paying the invoices, and was now planning to stop using the platform completely.

Platformer reported that Twitter was scrambling to move services off Google Cloud before the contract ends on June 30, but cited sources who said that this was taking longer than expected and that it was uncertain what would happen with some of the services.

For example, it's unclear whether Twitter would try to migrate Smyte to its own servers, sources told Platformer.

Smyte, a company Twitter acquired in 2018 that provides tools to stop harassment, abuse, and spam, is hosted on Google Cloud Platform and is now set to be shut down at the end of the month, Platformer reported.

Twitter and Google did not respond to Insider's request for comment, made outside of regular working hours.