Twitter launched Circle in August 2022, allowing you to limit your tweets to a chosen group of users without making your account private. While the function was designed to limit the visibility of your tweets to a group smaller than your number of followers, a recent issue has reportedly exposed your private tweets to many others outside your Circle, even if they do not follow you.
Many users have observed that tweets intended for Twitter Circles are reaching all followers rather than just those in the Circle. Amanda Silberling of TechCrunch, who saw another person's ostensibly private tweet, notes that personal posts display under Twitter's newly launched "For You" area.
Because the feature is intended to allow users to tweet secretly, many people use it to express sensitive thoughts and sentiments, as well as restricted media such as naked photographs, and the flaw poses a significant privacy risk to the account that posts all of those private tweets.
For months, Twitter Circle has been buggy. Certain users have reported that their tweets from the Circle have reached other followers outside of it. Meanwhile, some users claim that the tweets are available to anyone other than followers. Affected users discovered the flawed nature of the service when a few strangers responded with tweets intended for the inner circle.
While it's difficult to pinpoint a specific cause for the glitch, it could be related to recent changes to Twitter's recommendation algorithm, which divided the feed into "For You" and "Following" timelines. As the names suggest, For You also displays tweets from users you don't follow.
Elon Musk's private jet was made public on Twitter in October. Musk compared the incident to "doxing" and responded by suspending the @ElonJet account as well as the accounts of journalists who reported on it.
However, when it comes to users' privacy — despite using a mechanism that ostensibly guarantees it — Musk does not appear to be concerned. Twitter Circle has allegedly been plagued by bugs for several months. These difficulties have not piqued Twitter's interest, despite the digital titan persistently promoting the platform's paid tier, Twitter Blue.
This could be considered a violation of users' permission and a data breach under EU legislation. Any monetary punishment, however, may be subject to interference by US authorities and legislators.
