Tag: Twitter

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Mobile Syrup

Nintendo to end support for Facebook, Twitter logins in October

Nintendo has confirmed that it will end support for Facebook and Twitter logins starting October 25th.

At that time, you’ll only be able to sign in using your Nintendo account or through a linked Apple/Google account. Nintendo has a dedicated page for the discontinuation here.

Additionally, Nintendo has announced that it’s ceasing support for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U image sharing to Facebook and Twitter. This will also take place on October 25th.

Source: Nintendo

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter releases TIFF insider’s guide with custom emoji and hashtag

Twitter has released an ‘insider’s guide’ to 2022’s Toronto International Film Festival, This is the first year since 2019 that TIFF has been back en masse.

Firstly, #TIFF22 is now the official hashtag for 2022. There is also a custom emoji for TIFF as well. So, if you see stars, industry VIPs, and more you can tweet with the official hashtag and emojis.

TIFF and Twitter Canada are teaming up to hold events in the coming days — here’s what you can expect:

  • Live from the Red Carpet live stream show, featuring six live stream shows with footage and conversations with the biggest stars attending TIFF
  • Live press conference live streams, featuring the cast of The Swimmers, Bros, The Fabelmans, My Policeman and The Good Nurse
  • An exclusive Twitter Spaces conversation, co-hosted by the TIFF Press & Industry (@TIFF_Industry), Twitter Movies (@TwitterMovies) and Letterboxd (@letterboxd). The Space will be moderated by Letterboxd Editor-in-Chief Gemma Gracewood with appearances by TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey and TIFF Chief Programming Officer Anita Lee
  • Tweetable GIFs of top #TIFF22 red carpet moments, captured by Giphy
  • Video Q&A with top films & talents including the cast of Devotion (Jonathan Majors, Glen Powell, and Joe Jonas) and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Max Pelayo & Reese Gonzales)
  • Daily recaps via Twitter Moments, featuring the best Tweets and other ICYMI #TIFF22 highlights from Twitter
  • Bonus Twitter live stream videos from #TIFF22, including an exclusive  ‘In Conversation With…’ live stream with Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung plus industry panels from the festival
  • Video highlights from the Tribute Awards, sharing speeches and footage of the best moments, in partnership with Variety

The @TwitterMovies team will also attend TIFF, so you can follow the account for live Tweets and other coverage.

Further, Twitter will be hosting a September 9th #TakeUpSpace panel discussion on The Woman King in partnership with TIFF with cast members like Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim and John Boyega. TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey will also be in attendance.

Premiering at TIFF ’22, The Woman King is based on the true story of the Agojie, an all-female Black military force from back in West Africa in the 1800s.

The panel conversation will celebrate a group of people who are marginalized and speak about the power of Black women.

Source: Twitter

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter is finally getting an edit button, and it’s coming to Canada first

Twitter Canada has confirmed that some Canadian Twitter Blue subscribers will soon have access to an edit button as early as September.

The social network says it’s testing the ‘Edit Tweet’ button with Blue subscribers to learn more about how people use the feature before bringing it to all Twitter users later. In the initial version of the Edit Tweet feature, tweets will be able to be edited a “few times” in a 30-minute window following their publication.

All edited tweets will feature an icon, timestamp and label to indicate that the original tweet has been changed. When you tap on the label, you’ll also be able to view an ‘Edit History’ to view all past versions of the tweet.

Image credit: Twitter

“Like any new feature, we’re intentionally testing Edit Tweet with a smaller group to help us identify and resolve potential issues before it’s shared with the public. Since this is our most requested feature to date, we want to make sure we get it right,” said Twitter Canada in a statement.

Twitter Blue, the platform’s $3.49/month subscription service, first launched in Canada and Australia in June 2021 before expanding to the U.S. in November 2021. Canada has been the test market for other Twitter features in the past, including ‘Notes’ and ‘Hide replies.’

Image credit: Twitter

An edit button has been rumoured to be coming to Twitter for several years, with frequent leaks surrounding the feature appearing over the last few months. As a regular typo creator that spends far too much time on Twitter, I’ve been waiting for an edit button to hit the social network for years.

One-time Twitter buyer Elon Musk is still attempting to find ways out of his commitment to purchase the social network. In his most recent move, Musk alleges that Twitter breached six separate provisions regarding the acquisition.

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter rolling out its Circle feature to all users following months of testing

Twitter is now rolling out its circle feature to all users. Following months of testing across a “small group” of iOS, Android, and web users, more people can now take advantage of the feature.

Twitter Circles enables users to select up to 150 other users who can see and interact with a Tweet. It allows users to have more control and flexibility on who they engage with on a Tweet-by-Tweet basis.

As part of the announcement, Twitter states that circles were met with “overwhelmingly positive” responses. Now global users across iOS, Android, and the web can now start engaging with the circle feature.

As the feature is now active, users can select whether to share a Tweet with their full list of followers or their circle. If selecting the circle, users can choose up to 150 other people to share with. The selection can always be amended and adjusted on the fly. Plus, Twitter confirms that users will not be notified if they are added or removed from a Circle.

Tweets sent to a circle appear with a green badge indicating the status. These tweets are not able to be shared or Retweeted. Plus, all replies are private, ensuring they stay within your circle.

As part of Twitter’s testing phase, which started in May, the company states it saw an increase in overall Tweeting. Additionally, Tweet engagement rate on circles also increased.

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Mobile Syrup

Judiciary Committee to investigate claims of Twitter whistleblower at September 13 hearing

Twitter whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko will appear in front of a Senate hearing in the U.S. next month.

Zatko, a former Twitter executive and hacker who’s now a cybersecurity expert, filed a 200-page complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), alleging Twitter misled the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about security standards and covered up negligent security practices.

The Judiciary Committee hearing will take place on September 13th.

“Mr. Zatko’s allegations of widespread security failures and foreign state actor interference at Twitter raise serious concerns,” Senators Dick Durbin, committee chair, and Chuck Grassley said in a joint statement.

“If these claims are accurate, they may show dangerous data privacy and security risks for Twitter users around the world.”

Twitter fought back Zatko’s claims, stating allegations about the company’s privacy and data security practices are “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies, and lacks important context.”

Following Zatko’s allegations, the SEC also revealed details in its review of how Twitter calculates spam accounts on its platform. The review began a week before the allegations came to light.

Source: Dick Durbin’s office Via: Engadget  

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter lied about bots, security issues, says former Twitter exec

Former Twitter executive and hacker-turned-cybersecurity-expert Peiter “Mudge” Zatko filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleging Twitter deceived shareholders and lied to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about its security standards.

Allegations include Twitter hid negligent security practices, misled regulators about its safety, and failed to estimate the number of bots on its platform properly. That last one may grab the attention of anyone who’s paid close attention to the ongoing legal spat between Elon Musk and Twitter.

Zatko’s complaints total over 200 pages and were published in redacted form by CNN and The Washington Post on August 23rd.

Zatko told CNN in an interview that he joined Twitter in 2020 at the bequest of Jack Dorsey, the company’s CEO at the time. This happened right after the massive Twitter hack that compromised accounts belonging to public figures and companies, such as Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Apple, Uber, and more. In the interview, Zatko said he joined Twitter because he feels it’s a “critical resource” for the world, but he became disillusioned after Twitter’s current CEO Parag Agrawal refused to tackle the company’s security issues.

Speaking to The Washington Post (via The Verge), Zatko said his decision to turn whistleblower came from a desire to “finish the job Jack brought me in for” and to fulfill his obligations to Twitter users.

Highlights from Zatko’s SEC disclosures

Zatko’s complaint to the SEC includes several reports and accusations, but The Verge highlighted some of the biggest allegations:

  • Indiscriminate access: Zatko claims too many Twitter employees have access to critical systems and users’ sensitive personal data. Zatko puts the number at around half of the company’s 7,000 full-time employees. Moreover, Zatko says thousands of laptops contain complete copies of Twitter’s source code.
  • Lying to the FTC: Zatko alleges that Twitter repeatedly made “false and misleading statements” to users and the FTC, violating an agreement from its 2010 settlement with the FTC over a failure to protect consumers’ personal information.
  • Bot problems: Zatko said the method Twitter uses to measure the number of bots, fake accounts, or spam on the platform is misleading and that the company incentivizes executives with bonuses of up to $10 million USD (about $13 million CAD) to boost user counts rather than remove spam bots.
  • Government agent: Zatko alleged that the Indian government forced Twitter to hire a government agent who then had “access to vast amounts of Twitter sensitive data.”
  • Failure to delete date: Finally, Zatko’s complaint states Twitter previously failed to delete users’ data after deletion was requested due to records being so widely spread across internal systems that it couldn’t be properly tracked. However, it’s worth noting a current employee told The Washington Post that the company recently completed ‘Project Eraser’ to ensure proper deletion of user data.

Twitter’s response

Zatko’s allegations are explosive and could have significant impacts on Twitter. The Washington Post noted the FTC is currently reviewing the complaint and if proved true, could result in significant fines against Twitter.

Similarly, The Verge notes the complaint will likely impact the ongoing court battle between Elon Musk and Twitter. Musk is trying to get out of an agreement to purchase Twitter on the basis that the company lied about the number of bots and spam accounts on the platform. It remains unclear if Zatko’s allegations will impact Musk’s legal argument considering he signed an agreement to buy Twitter, and the agreement doesn’t include an out for “oh no, there are too many bots!” Instead, Zatko’s claims will likely impact public perception of Musk’s legal case.

Twitter, unsurprisingly, wasn’t a fan of the allegations and claimed they were “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies” in a statement to CNN:

“Mr. Zatko was fired from his senior executive role at Twitter for poor performance and ineffective leadership over six months ago. While we haven’t had access to the specific allegations being referenced, what we’ve seen so far is a narrative about our privacy and data security practices that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies, and lacks important context. Mr. Zatko’s allegations and opportunistic timing appear designed to capture attention and inflict harm on Twitter, its customers and its shareholders. Security and privacy have long been company-wide priorities at Twitter and we still have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Source: CNN, The Washington Post Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Judge orders Twitter’s former head of consumer product to hand over documents

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s legal battle with Twitter seems to be making progress.

Judge Kathleen St. Jude McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery ordered Twitter to comply with Musk’s lawyer’s motion requesting documents from 22 Twitter employees who presumably have information about how the company analyzes bot and spam accounts. McCormick decided that out of the 22 individuals, Twitter only has to “collect, review, and produce documents” from one individual — Kayvon Beykpour, former head of consumer product at Twitter, as shared by The Verge.

Beykpour joined Twitter in 2018 and was asked to leave earlier this year in May by CEO Parag Agrawal. He is likely to have information regarding the bot conundrum that Musk is looking for

Additionally, according to Insider, Musk’s lawyers also filed an additional confidential motion to compel earlier this week, and his team is looking to force Twitter into handing over more information about Twitter’s user data, and how the company collects and analyzes it.

The back and forth is part of a lawsuit that Twitter filed against Musk last month for backing out of his $44 billion Twitter acquisition deal.

“Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests,” said Twitter at the time. “Musk apparently believes that he — unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away.”

However, Musk emphasized that Twitter has failed to provide accurate information regarding the number of bots on the platform. Twitter says that spam bots comprise less than five percent of its total user base, whereas Musk argues otherwise, claiming that roughly 20 percent of the platform’s users are spam bots. 

Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter confirms bad actor took advantage of bug sharing personal account information

Millions of anonymous Twitter accounts may be at risk of an information leak.

Twitter says it was made aware of a vulnerability in January that saw its systems tell someone if a particular email address or phone number they submitted was associated with a specific account. The social media giant received the report through its bug bounty program, it said in a blog post on Friday.

Twitter said the bug resulted from a June 2021 code update, and it fixed the issue when it became aware of it. There wasn’t evidence to suggest anyone took advantage of the bug at the time.

However, the company learned of a report last month that a bad actor took advantage of the information. BleepingComputer, spoke with an individual who accessed the information of 5.4 million accounts.

Twitter says it is notifying as many impacted accounts as it can but says it won’t be possible to inform all of them.

“We are publishing this update because we aren’t able to confirm every account that was potentially impacted, and are particularly mindful of people with pseudonymous accounts who can be targeted by state or other actors,” Twitter writes in the blog post.

Source: Twitter, BleepingComputer Via: Engadget

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Musk’s Twitter deal should proceed as long as reliable proof that its userbase is real is provided

The ongoing saga between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter continues.

In a tweet published last weekend, Musk states that the Twitter acquisition should proceed if the company can provide substantive proof that its userbase is real. “If it turns out that their SEC filings are materially false, then it should not,” Musk says.

Musk’s $44 billion USD (about $60 billion CAD) deal hinges on whether Twitter can provide the data and information necessary to provide an accurate look at how many fake and spam accounts are on the platform. This has been a prevalent contingency following the news of the acquisition in April. Musk is to take ownership of the company for $54.20 USD (roughly $69.60 CAD) per share in cash.

In July, Musk’s legal team wrote a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In it, it says that Musk wishes to “make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter’s platform.” Musk attempts to gain proof that fake and spam accounts represent less than five percent. This ask from the Tesla CEO has not been fulfilled.

However, the Twitter Board commits to closing the deal and is pursuing legal action to ensure the acquisition closes.“We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms,” Twitter said in an earlier statement.

“According to Musk, he — the billionaire founder of multiple companies, advised by Wall Street bankers and lawyers — was hoodwinked by Twitter into signing a $44 billion merger agreement. That story is as implausible and contrary to fact as it sounds,” Twitter now states.

Twitter also attributes Musk as a factor in its lowered revenue during its Q2 2022 earnings reports alongside issues within the ad industry.

Musk believes that spam accounts make up roughly 20 percent of its total user base. It does appear as though Musk is looking to terminate the acquisition. However, Musk continues to claim the deal should close. Musk did file a countersuit in July against Twitter. A trial between the two is set for October 17th, 2022.

Musk is a prominent user on Twitter and has over 100 million followers. He is a self-proclaimed advocate for free speech and says he hopes to instill that onto the social media platform.

Source: Reuters

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Twitter lawyers respond to Musk’s countersuit with with facts about bots and spam

Elon Musk’s countersuit to Twitter contains several claims about the social media company, including that that the San Francisco, California-based social media giant misled him and lied about bot numbers and its advertising base., prompting the Tesla CEO to rescind his acquisition offer.

However, Twitter, on Thursday, August 5th, dropped its response to Musk’s accusations, preempting Musk’s countersuit. It’s safe to say that the social media company’s lawyers aren’t playing games.

According to Twitter, Musk is cherry-picking numbers and misrepresenting the way its online ad system operates.

In regards to the bot situation, Twitter says that Musk’s team used an online tool called “Botometer” that utilizes different criteria when assessing bots. The company adds that Musk himself labelled the online tool as “highly likely to be a bot” itself.

The platform says that the false data about Twitter’s mDAU (monetizable daily active users) is a way for Musk to undercut the service. “The allegations … are Musk’s attempt to distort data received from Twitter to sponsor wild conclusions about Twitter’s mDAU, reflecting his apparent and inappropriate effort to use this litigation to undermine Twitter’s business,” reads Twitter’s response.

Further, Twitter says that Musk making stuff up about the social media giant isn’t healthy for business. “Musk abruptly changed his mind about joining Twitter’s board (after first negotiating an offer to join the board, accepting it in writing, and Tweeting that he was “looking forward” to taking the position), notified Mr. Agrawal of the same, and also notified Mr. Agrawal of his intent to make an offer to buy Twitter,” reads Twitter’s response.

Further refuting Musk’s claim that Twitter is a microblogging platform, Twitter said that its primary product is a “Global platform for real-time self-expression and conversation, including in the form of Tweets.”

Musk’s countersuit also claims that Twitter’s process for tallying bot and spam accounts is “shockingly thin,” saying that the platform uses a 100 account sample daily to estimate the prevalence of spam on the site. Twitter fired back saying that it “deploys an array of spam-detection capabilities that typically result in the removal of more than a million spam accounts each day during or shortly after creation, including both automated and manual reviews of accounts and activity on the Twitter platform.”

Musk’s lawyers are urging for their countersuit to be unsealed immediately.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Via: The Washington Post