Twitter admits that private Circle tweets have leaked to the public, confirming that the Elon Musk-owned social media experienced a security issue.
The Circle feature should work like the Close Friends option on Instagram, wherein the audience is limited to a subset of friends. However, Twitter users report that a bug exposed supposedly private tweets to the public.
Twitter Explains Why Private Circle Tweets Leaked to Public
This illustration photo taken on July 8, 2022 shows Elon Musk's Twitter page displayed on the screen of a smartphone with Twitter logos in the background in Los Angeles.
According to Bleeping Computer, the Circle feature on Twitter enables users to post tweets limited to their close friends. It should allow them to share some thoughts in a much smaller crowd. It helps them protect themselves from trolls, mainly when the topic is pretty sensitive since only those within the circle can interact.
On top of that, the feature gives Twitter folks an option to share stuff that is too private for everyone else. It lets users post things they do not want the public eye to see.
However, in early April, some Twitter users were surprised that private Circle tweets leaked to strangers after appearing on the "For You" page.
Engadget reports that creator Theo Brown suggested that the private tweets appearing in public must have something to do with an issue with the recommendation algorithm.
Since then, the social media giant has kept mum about the issue. A month since the issue made rounds online, Blue Bird confirmed a "security incident" in an email to Tech Crunch. The social media giant says it could have triggered a bug, which allowed users not part of the Twitter Circle to see supposedly private posts.
In a statement, Twitter says it "may have allowed users outside your Twitter Circle to see tweets that should have otherwise been limited" to a few people.
Twitter Circle Security Bug Now Fixed?
The Twitter logo at their offices in New York City on January 12, 2023.
Twitter also says their security team has already found what caused the problem. After which, the social media giant claims it has been "immediately fixed so that these tweets were no longer visible outside of your Circle."
It is worth noting that the Musk-owned service failed to disclose the reason behind the security issue. Aside from confirming that it has addressed the security issue, Twitter also apologized to its users. The tech firm says that they "deeply regret" the incident, noting that they understand the risks that come with it.
Engadget notes that since Musk took the top role on Twitter, it has faced a couple of bugs and other janky issues. Not to mention that several outages have hit the giant platform.
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