Does Twitter Spy On You?

A lawsuit in the US has accused Twitter of reading direct messages and replacing hyperlinks to boost its own traffic.

18:54 17 September 2015

Twitter is being sued for allegedly snooping on its users’ direct messages.

 

The lawsuit claims that the social networking company "surreptitiously eavesdrops on its users’ private direct message communications." It also alleges that Twitter goes into the message and replaces the hyperlinks with its own link-shorterning tool to boost its own traffic.

 

“Twitter’s algorithms will read through the Direct Message, identify the hyperlink, and replace it with its own custom link, thereby sending the person clicking on the link to Twitter’s analytics servers before passing them on to the original linked-to website,” claims the suit.

 

Meanwhile, Twitter called the lawsuit “meritless.”

 

A spokesman told the Wall Street Journal: “We believe these claims are meritless and we intend to fight them.”