Actually, tweets to a defined group of people – called the Twitter Circle – should only be accessible to them, but a security gap in the short message service allowed all users of the platform to share the content. The company admitted this to Twitter after initially ignoring reports that had surfaced previously. In an email to affected users on Friday, Twitter said there was a security incident “earlier this year” that could have allowed users outside of the Circle user group to read tweets that weren’t intended for them. This is reported by the English Guardian, who have access to the e-mail. The gap has presumably existed since at least the first week of April this year.
“A security incident earlier this year” – nothing else
In messages to those affected, Twitter praised its security team for discovering the vulnerability and closing it immediately, writes the Guardian. And as usual in such cases, the company reiterates that it protects the privacy of its users and regrets the incident, which may have been risky for some users. Twitter did not provide any details on the nature of the vulnerability or the number of users affected, nor did the message comment on previous reports indicating a possible breach of privacy in the Twitter Circle. Users had been posting for weeks (since around early April) from outside their Circle Get views or likes for actually confidential tweets to have.
Twitter rolled out the Circle feature to all users worldwide in August 2022 after several months of testing. Before publishing a tweet, you can set its reach: “All” or “Twitter Circle”. If you choose the latter, the tweet is only accessible to the defined group of people (maximum 150), which can be adjusted at any time. A green mark next to a tweet indicates that it is only intended for the sender’s respective Twitter circle.
(tiw)
