Jack Dorsey criticizes ‘tweet tracking’ during Twitter exchange with Elon Musk
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Jack Dorsey criticizes Twitter for quietly following devices users share tweets from during the exchange with Elon Musk – who says the platform he acquired is like ‘angry birds’ with too many groups ‘fighting each other internally’
- Twitter founder Jack Dorsey criticized the social media company for silently tracking the devices users share tweets with
- Dorsey characterized the feature as a ‘step backwards’, but noted that it was added last year before Elon Musk took over the company.
- His comments came amid a Tweet spat with Musk, leading to Musk saying the company was plagued by infighting and comparing it to ‘Angry Birds’
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey criticized the social media company for quietly tracking the devices users share tweets from.
Dorsey characterized the feature as a “step backwards,” but noted that it was added last year before Elon Musk took over the company.
The 45-year-old stepped down as CEO of Twitter last November, and it’s unclear whether the device’s tracking feature was added before or after his departure.
His comments came amid a series of tweets he fired Sunday night, including an exchange he entered into with Musk about renaming the Twitter feature Birdwatch.
On Saturday, Musk announced that Birdwatch — intended to counter misinformation by allowing users to annotate tweets — would be rebranded as “Community Notes,” a name that Dorsey calls “the dullest Facebook name ever.” mentioned.
Musk chided Dorsey over a series of tweets, eventually comparing Twitter to the “Angry Birds” game, saying it was plagued with infighting.
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey criticized the social media company for quietly tracking the devices users share tweets from. He noted that the feature was added before Musk bought the company
Dorsey pointed out that any information after the ‘?’ in tweet urls was not necessary to share a tweet
Dorsey pointed out that the URL addresses on tweets contain a line of code that is not necessary for tweet sharing.
‘No need after the ?’ he wrote, referring to the question mark in tweet URLs.
Twitter sleuths such as user Joshua Steinman have determined that the lines of code following the question mark in URLs are unique to the specific device from which the tweet was shared.
This feature allows Twitter to know where a shared tweet is coming from, even if the person posting the tweet is doing so from an account not associated with their name.
In his tweet Sunday night, Dorsey appeared to raise eyebrows at the feature.
“These tracking additions when sharing a tweet are a step backwards,” he wrote.
As stated by Dorsey, users can bypass device tracking by inserting any information after the ‘?’ in a tweet URL before sending it.
Twitter user Joshua Steinman posted a thorough overview of how he found Twitter was tracking devices via shared tweet URLs
Minutes before tweeting about Twitter’s tweet-share tracking, Dorsey asked Musk directly about his intentions to improve the accuracy of information on Twitter.
“Twitter must become by far the most accurate source of information about the world,” Musk had tweeted. “That’s our mission.”
“Accurate for whom?” Dorsey responded.
Musk then said he wanted accuracy to be promoted by Twitter users themselves, pointing to the Community Notes feature as a means of doing that.
When Dorsey replied that he thought the old name was better, Musk said, “Birdwatch gives me the creeps.”
“Not everything has to have ‘bird’ in the name!” he added. “Too many bird groups are fighting each other internally on Twitter. Angry Birds.’