Twitter Blames ‘Security Incident’ for Leak of Private ‘Circle’ Tweets

Twitter is blaming a “security incident” for a bug that posted tweets intended for people’s close friends to public feeds.

Twitter Circles permits users to set a list of close friends and post tweets that only they can read. Last month, however, Circle tweets popped up in the For You timeline of users who followed the Circle tweet poster but aren’t in their Circle. In some cases, Twitter users spotted Circle tweets from people they didn’t follow.

As The Guardian(Opens in a new window) reports, Twitter sent emails to affected users that says: “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.” 

The issue “was identified by our security team and immediately fixed so that these tweets were no longer visible outside of your Circle,” according to Twitter,which emphasized that it’s “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, which now only replies to press emails with a poop emoji, did not immediately respond to PCMag’s request for comment.

Twitter announced Circles last year, and described the feature as one that “makes it easier to have more intimate conversations and build closer connections with select followers.” But that was before Elon Musk took over the company and decimated much of its staff.

Those layoffs came amid a string of cost-cutting efforts, including the closing of a Sacramento data center, the shutdown of a Seattle office, and the firing of janitorial workers and security staff across the US.