Technical Tuesday: Twitter’s Privacy Policy
Twitter has been around for about as long as Facebook, but unlike Facebook Twitter isn’t that go-to app. In fact, I know a lot of people who rarely use Twitter. I use it to promote my blog post for my website, but don’t personally use it very often. Now Twitter isn’t unpopular (cause then what would be the point in writing this) they have over 330 million users a month according to financesonline.com. So today we are going to go over their privacy policy and look at how they are storing and keeping our data. We are also going to take a look at how to work with their privacy settings to keep your information from getting all over the internet.
(Now as stated a few times before) A little housekeeping (so I don’t get sued)
Number 1- I am not a lawyer nor do I hold a degree in Computer Science. 🙁 I am just a regular person who found this information out either through friends or by doing my own research.
Number 2-The companies that are used in this post and in others are entirely within their Legal Rights to ask for this information
Number 3-I am not out to bad mouth these companies or anything that is in their privacy policies. I am just giving you the basic information that you need to help protect your personal information while continuing to work with these companies. I’ve picked these companies as examples because of the major role that they play in all of our daily lives, and the global presence they all have.
Number 4-This is not Legal advice and all information given has been obtained via the website of the company.
Number 5-I am not a lawyer (yes, I am repeating this) I don’t want to go to court. I just want you to know what your privacy policies are saying and also how to take down your information without paying some company to do it.
Now we can jump right in.
What information does Twitter collect?
Twitter actually does a really good job of explaining what information they collect and how they use it. They don’t hide anything behind what I like to call legalese. You don’t need a legal dictionary or a dictionary at all. So you can leave that on the shelf.
When signing up for Twitter you do need to disclose your email or phone number but they allow you to not use your name. Your display name and also username are always available publicly to all of Twitter.
They also add-in that you can have multiple accounts that can be tailored to each aspect of your personality.
Twitter also breaks down what you can have control over and what information is automatically public. Things like the list that you create, people you follow, and who follows you, along with the likes and retweets are all public. This is totally understandable (since this is a public platform) Twitter also does record when you make those interactions. So if you have called in sick to work… and your boss follows you don’t be tweeting about that concert you went to the night before. (Got it? lol)
Since Twitter is a public platform they do tell you that you are responsible for your information… so if you get in trouble for a tweet. That’s on you buddy.
What does Twitter do with your information?
They do also tell you very simply what they do with your information, they use it for their developer platform. Which allows businesses and individuals to create applications with the data that is collected as public information. Twitter also is very clear about the fact that they allow developers to use the information in limited quantities completely free of charge but that they do charge for larger amounts. They also go on to say that even though they have standard terms and a compliance program these companies are not affiliated with Twitter.
Twitter actually goes through a lot of trouble to spell out their usage and also to allow you to know exactly what they are doing with your information. This to me means that they care and that it’s not just information to them, but something that matters to their users.
So how do you see what infomation you are sharing online via Twitter?
Twitter has made this process super easy and it can be done from your phone or tablet.
Step 1: Go to the Twitter application and click on your profile picture in the top left.
Step 2: Scroll down until you see the Settings and Privacy… click or tap that.
All of the information that you share with Twitter and allow them to share is right there.
Simple, Painless, and Hasslefree. Thank you, Twitter!
I actually made a Tiktok for a quick reference how-to if you would like to see it or you can view it on Twitter itself.
I do encourage you to read everything and also remember that you can contact Twitter directly with any questions. (they actually do answer you)
Thank you and as always Happy Computing 🙂
