Like on Facebook and Instagram, Twitter netizens can control who they want to view their tweets. But apparently, there had been a “security incident” on Twitter wherein the public saw those private tweets.
What’s even more interesting is that, at first, even after users reported this incident, Twitter did not own to it. However, later on, after being identified by their security team, they said they “deeply regret this happened.”
‘Security incident’
There is a feature on Twitter called “Twitter Circle,” where users can only send tweets to select people and share their thoughts with a smaller crowd. They can also choose who will be in their Twitter Circle, and only those added can reply to or interact with the tweets you share in the circle.
Similar to Facebook’s Friends setting or Instagram Story’s Close Friends setting, this feature on Twitter lets users share private insights, explicit images, or unprofessional statements without risking them being seen by the public.
However, lately, a glitch has happened across the Twitterverse wherein these private tweets were revealed to the public.
For weeks, Twitter netizens reported Twitter Circle tweets getting likes and views from accounts not part of their Circles. Initially, the social media platform did not acknowledge these reports, unfortunately.
But after their security team had identified and fixed them, they said they “deeply regret this happened.”
“Twitter is committed to protecting the privacy of the people who use our service, and we understand the risks that an incident like this can introduce and we deeply regret this happened,“ Twitter said. “A security incident that occurred earlier this year may have allowed users outside of your Twitter Circle to see tweets that should have otherwise been limited to the Circle to which you were posting.”
However, the email failed to address separate reports that said similar privacy breaches were happening to “private” accounts, whose tweets should not be shown to anybody unless they are from approved followers.
Down to around 1,000 employees
Meanwhile, in other – bad – news about Twitter, the popular social media platform’s workforce is now down to just around 1,000 employees from about 8,000 last year after massive layoffs.
However, hundreds of Twitter workers had already left before the layoffs. News reports say just about 500 engineers are left at the company.
Furthermore, sources told the media that frequent firings are following weekly employee reviews with little to no explanation provided.
“The issue is like the company’s going to go bankrupt if we do not cut costs immediately,” Twitter CEO Elon Musk told the media. “This is not a caring, uncaring situation. It’s like if the whole ship sinks then nobody’s got a job.”
Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022.
As of press time, according to recent statistics, Twitter had an estimated 450 million monthly active users in 2022, 396 million more users from 2010. Also, its audience has increased by over 40 percent since 2018.
