Twitter's Bug Shares Its Users' Geolocation Data With Its Partner

Twitter recently came out clean with a bug that plagues its platform. The bug collects iOS app users’ location data and shares with one of its partners. in its platform.

The bug works by collecting users' geolocation data when the user has two Twitter accounts in an iOS device but uses the location feature in only one of the accounts, this makes the second account to retain the information even if the location is turned on.

Also, the collected location data was shared with a trusted partner during an advertising process known as real-time bidding.Twitter reacted quickly as it took technical measures to sort out the data shared so that it was no more precise than the zip code or city (5km squared).

Twitter confirmed that no other users’ Twitter handle or account IDs have been shared with the partner and stated that the partner deleted the shared location data as part of their normal process.Twitter also stated that it notified its users whose accounts have been potentially impacted and also it has fixed this issue is working to ensure that this does not happen in the future.

“We have confirmed with our partner that the location data has not been retained and that it only existed in their systems for a short time, and was then deleted as part of their normal process,” Twitter said.