Twitter came clean about a data mishap. According to the company, it may have shared data it didn’t have permission to with advertisers. The microblogging network said in a company blog post Tuesday that it may’ve shared certain data even though you didn’t give it permission to do so.
We recently discovered and fixed issues related to your settings choices for the way we deliver personalized ads, and when we share certain data with trusted measurement and advertising partners. We want to share more context around this with you: https://t.co/jDn5zeWVwU
— Support (@Support) August 6, 2019
In a blog post, Twitter explained that if you clicked or viewed an ad on one of its mobile apps since May 2018, it may have shared info like your country code and when you engaged with the ad. And since September 2018, it may have shown you ads based on inferences it made about the device you use. That data stayed within Twitter, and both glitches were fixed on August 5th. Though, the company says it is still determining who may have been impacted.
Twitter users who clicked or viewed an ad on the app since May 2018 may’ve shared data about the experience with third-party measurement and advertising partners, Twitter said. Data that would’ve been shared includes users’ country code, information about the ad, and whether they engaged with the ad and when.
The other issue relates to assumptions Twitter made about the devices favored by its users as it tried to deliver more-relevant targeted ads. Twitter said this data stayed within the company and didn’t include sensitive personal information such as email addresses or passwords.
