Twitter says bugs in ad system led to data leaks

After revealing that a bug in its advertising system led to users’ location data being inadvertently leaked to advertisers back in May, Twitter has revealed further leaks in its system.

Twitter is blaming them on issues with its advertisement settings. According to a blog post, Twitter said that there were two elements to this newest issue.

Firstly, Twitter said that users who clicked or viewed an ad for a mobile application and then subsequently interacted with that application had personal certain data, such as country codes and other data related to their interactions with the app, shared with the advertiser despite having settings in place to prevent this.

Secondly, Twitter indicated there were issues with how it determined which ads were more relevant to users.

“As part of a process we use to try and serve more relevant advertising on Twitter and other services since September 2018, we may have shown you ads based on inferences we made about the devices you use, even if you did not give us permission to do so,” the blog post read.

Twitter said the data involved stayed within Twitter and did not contain things like passwords, or email accounts. As of Aug. 5 the issues had been fixed, the company added, but Twitter is still in the midst of an investigation to discover how many users were affected and if any other bugs may still be in existence.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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Buckley Smith
Buckley Smithhttps://www.itbusiness.ca
Staff writer for IT World Canada. Covering the world of technology as it applies to business. Buckley is an avid sports fan who loves travel, food, and music. Can be contacted at [email protected] or 416-290-2000.

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