US intelligence agencies have been barred by twitter from obtaining a service that has proved useful in the fight against terrorism and forms through posts on the social media platform in real time, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Twitter possesses about a five percent stake in Dataminr, which uses location tools and algorithms to show patterns among tweets. It’s a strong instrument for gleaning valuable information on Twitter from the unending flow of yak.

Dataminr is the only business that Twitter authorizes to get its whole real time flow of public tweets and sell it to customers, the Wall Street Journal said.

The move wasn’t openly declared and the paper mentioned individuals and the intelligence official familiar with the issue.

Dataminr executives recently told intelligence agencies that Twitter didn’t need the firm to continue supplying them with services, the report said.

US authorities were alarmed by Dataminr info in Paris to the November attacks soon after the assault started, the Wall Street Journal said.

It’s also been useful for real time info about Islamic State group strikes, the political disaster of Brazil and other quick-altering events.

Twitter told the paper in a statement that its “data is mainly public and the US authorities may review public reports alone, like any user could.”