In an aerial view, a modified company sign is posted on the exterior of the Twitter headquarters on ... [+]
Twitter’s privacy feature that allows users to post tweets to a smaller group of friends, called Circles, is currently broken and allowing anyone to see the private tweets, according to a new report from BuzzFeed and several users on Twitter. And that means content people thought would only be shared with a small circle of people—including everything from nude photos to gossip—is spilling out into public right now.
“I made a Twitter Circle with one person in it and posted this tweet for science. This was the result. Two people I don't follow saw the tweet & liked it. One of those people doesn't follow me either. Twitter Circles aren't private. Don't post anything you want private in them,” Twitter user Ian Coldwater tweeted on Monday.
Other users have reported their sensitive content is also becoming public, with some tweets even showing up in the “For You” panel of people who don’t even follow those accounts.
“FYI circles are not private rn. Please do not post sensitive information in circles because other people can see it,” another Twitter user posted on Saturday.
Circles was introduced in August 2022 and was billed as a great way to share content that Twitter users didn’t want to be seen by large groups of people.
“With Twitter Circle, people now have the flexibility to choose who can see and engage with their content on a Tweet-by-Tweet basis. This makes it easier to have more intimate conversations and build closer connections with select followers,” Twitter explained when it announced Circles.
Twitter responded to questions on Monday with a poop emoji, an automated response set up by CEO Elon Musk. The billionaire has taken a lot of heat since he purchased the social media platform in October 2022, with many advertisers expressing concern about Musk’s political opinions, as well as his embrace of noted racists on the platform.
As just one example, Musk recently came to the defense of Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams after he was dropped by every newspaper in the country following racist comments. Adams said that white people should try to avoid living near Black people, just the latest in a long track record of highly offensive rants. But Musk defended Adams, insisting that it was the mainstream media that was filled with racists.
Several major advertisers have objected to Musk being a highlighted speaker at the Possible Conference in Miami later this month, with many citing his history of “racist” statements. But it’s not just the racism that has been spooking major brands. Musk has increasingly shown a very juvenile sense of humor on Twitter, which can’t help instill confidence in the people making ad buying decisions for family-friendly brands.
In a recent example of Musk acting childish, the billionaire said on Sunday he’d painted over the “W” in Twitter on the sign at the company’s headquarters in San Francisco—apparently a joke about breasts.
“Our landlord at SF HQ says we’re legally required to keep sign as Twitter & cannot remove ‘w’, so we painted it background color. Problem solved!” Musk tweeted on Sunday.
Musk also changed his display name on Twitter to Harry Bōlz on Monday, apparently an effort by the 51-year-old billionaire to make another joke.
Elon Musk's name displaying the joke moniker Harry Bōlz on Monday afternoon.
The Circles fiasco is just the latest problem that’s sure to hamper Musk’s efforts to reassure advertisers that Twitter is a safe space for their brands. But it seems unlikely Musk will change any of his tactics and there’s no public indication that he’s concerned about the leak of nudes currently happening on Twitter. A poop emoji kind of sums it all up.
