Twitter has finallybroke its silence — sort of — on why third-party clients are not working, changing its TOS to ban them.

Twitter caused an uproar when popular third-party clients stopped working without explanation. Twitterrific even shut down as a result, saying that’s Twitter’s complete lack of communication on the issue made it “a Twitter that we no longer recognize as trustworthy nor want to work with any longer.”

In the aftermath, Twitter has finally clarified, although not in an official announcement, press release, or anything else that would help the company save face. Instead, it has quietly updated its TOS to ban third-party apps.

The relevant portion specifically bans “use or access the Licensed Materials to create or attempt to create a substitute or similar service or product to the Twitter Applications.”

Clearly, the platform views third-party clients as a threat to its advertising revenue, since many of them do not display ads, and is well within its rights to make such a change.

Nonetheless, the company should have informed developers of the change, rather than making it unannounced and leaving everyone in limbo.