Sasha FoxJan 5, 2023

Records of 235 million Twitter accounts and the email addresses used to register them have been posted to an online hacking forum, setting the stage for anonymous handles to be linked to real-world identities.

That poses threats of exposure, arrest or violence against people who used Twitter to criticize governments or powerful individuals, and it could open up others to extortion, security experts said. Hackers could also use the email addresses to attempt to reset passwords and take control of accounts, especially those not protected by two-factor authentication
https://wapo.st/3ijl8mX

Hackers leak email addresses tied to 235 million Twitter accounts

Researchers say the information was assembled by unknown actors who exploited a previously disclosed flaw in Twitter's system for verifying account ownership.

The Washington Post
Show threadSasha FoxJan 5, 2023

That above link is a gift article, so people can get around the paywall.

It's worth noting that two factor authorization isn't working properly on Twitter due to Musk. So, that's going to open up a lot more people to exposure.
https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-two-factor-sms-problems/

Twitter’s SMS Two-Factor Authentication Is Melting Down

Problems with the important security feature may be some of the first signs that Elon Musk’s social network is fraying at the edges.

WIRED
Show threadSasha FoxJan 5, 2023

This issue predates Musk taking over Twitter, but he's only made the situation worse since taking over.

Which is why he's under investigation.

"The US Federal Trade Commission is deepening an investigation it opened this fall into Twitter Inc.’s privacy and data security practices in the wake of the company’s takeover by billionaire Elon Musk, according to people familiar with the matter."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-20/musk-s-twitter-draws-deeper-ftc-scrutiny-over-rising-privacy-security-concerns

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

Show threadSasha FoxJan 5, 2023

That's not to be confused with the FTC investigation prompted by this data leak.

Musk is under an additional, entirely separate FTC investigation going on at the same time as this one.

What we learned when Twitter whistleblower Mudge testified to Congress
https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/13/twitter-whistleblower-mudge-congress/

TechCrunch is part of the Yahoo family of brands

Show threadSasha FoxJan 5, 2023

What is Musk focusing on over at Twitter, you may wonder:

"Twitter Inc's head of trust and safety told Reuters the company manually reviewed "any and all accounts" that violated its new privacy policy by posting links to a Twitter account called ElonJet that tracked Elon Musk's private jet using information in the public domain"

Yep. Manually going through and deciding who to ban and who to not ban for sharing the @elonjet Twitter account.

This was after firing almost everyone, so assume that's all they're doing these days: manually reviewing tweets about Musk.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-manually-reviewed-all-accounts-that-posted-links-elonjet-exec-2022-12-16/

Twitter manually reviewed all accounts that posted links to ElonJet -exec

Twitter Inc's head of trust and safety told Reuters the company manually reviewed "any and all accounts" that violated its new privacy policy by posting links to a Twitter account called ElonJet that tracked Elon Musk's private jet using information in the public domain.

Reuters
Show threadSasha FoxJan 5, 2023

Also they're getting rid of the ban on paid political advertising. So expect a ton of dark money groups to start flooding Twitter with right wing propaganda.

Twitter said it was relaxing its ban on political and issue-based advertising on Tuesday, a reversal of the company’s long-standing approach to paid political speech.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/01/03/twitter-political-ads-ban-reversal/

Twitter reverses longstanding ban on political advertising

The company said Tuesday that it was relaxing its ban on political and issue-based advertising, a reversal of its longstanding approach to paid political speech.

The Washington Post
Show threadSasha FoxJan 5, 2023

When you also look at how they've gotten rid of bans against covid misinformation and hate speech against trans people, you can start to get a very clear idea of the sort of propaganda that's going to be flooding people's feeds in ways they can't turn off.

Twitter will no longer enforce its policy against COVID-19 misinformation, raising concerns among public health experts and social media researchers that the change could have serious consequences if it discourages vaccination and other efforts to combat the still-spreading virus.
https://apnews.com/article/twitter-ends-covid-misinformation-policy-cc232c9ce0f193c505bbc63bf57ecad6

Twitter ends enforcement of COVID misinformation policy

Twitter will no longer enforce its policy against COVID-19 misinformation , raising concerns among public health experts and social media researchers that the change could have serious consequences if it discourages vaccination and other efforts to combat the still-spreading virus.

Associated Press
Show thread🐍

@sashafox Essentially, Twitter gave the general public the opportunity to express their own opinions and voices, and those whose job is to DEFINE the opinions of the general public couldn't tolerate it - from Arab Spring to COVID-19 to 1/6.

That's why they made it progressively harder and harder to choose what you see in a nice, neat, chronological timeline: you're supposed to see what THEY (the paying advertisers and opinion-shapers) want you to see, not what YOU want to see.

Giving the general public a voice is INTOLERABLE to those in charge of society (both corporate and government).

Jan 5, 2023 at 1:21amWeb
Show threadSasha FoxJan 5, 2023
@6of47 Yep! And now it'll be that if you don't pay Musk $8 a month, your tweets will be treated as spam,