Twitter's Circles feature causes privacy breach, leaves users concerned

X Circles feature, which allows users to share tweets with a select group of friends, has been at the center of a recent privacy breach that has left users concerned about the safety of their private information. The feature was intended to allow users to post private thoughts, explicit images, or unprofessional statements without risking sharing them with their wider network. However, users had been reporting tweets receiving likes and views from accounts that should not have been able to see them.

Some speculate that the issue was caused by Twitter's failure to filter Circle tweets out of its recommendation algorithm. This incident has highlighted the importance of social media platforms protecting user privacy and addressing technical issues promptly. However, Twitter's press office has been largely destaffed and set to autoreply to requests for comment with a poo emoji, which has not sat well with affected users. The company did not acknowledge the reports until it sent an email to affected users apologizing for the security incident. The email stated that the issue "was identified by our security team and immediately fixed so that these tweets were no longer visible outside of your Circle." Twitter is committed to protecting the privacy of its users, and it deeply regrets that this happened. However, the email did not address separate reports that similar privacy breaches were occurring to "private" accounts.