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Twitter confirmed that a security error that made Circle tweets<\/a> \u2014 posts that only go out to a small subset of trusted friends \u2014 surface publicly. TechCrunch reported the glitch<\/a> in early April, but the platform confirmed the issue today in an email sent to Twitter Circle users.<\/p>\n \u201cIn April 2023, a security incident may have allowed users outside of your Twitter Circle to see tweets that should have otherwise been limited to the Circle to which you were posting,\u201d the email said. Twitter claims that the bug has now been fixed, and that the team knows what caused it.<\/p>\n Twitter Circle has been buggy for months, which is concerning for a feature that people use to tweet things they don\u2019t want to share with all of their followers. When we reported on the issue last month, numerous users had been tweeting that people outside of their Circle were liking their private tweets; one user even said that she posted nude photos on her Circle, which slipped through the cracks<\/a> and surfaced for unintended eyes.<\/p>\n Most often, it seemed that Circle tweets were being surfaced in the For You timeline to users who follow the poster, but were not in their Circle. Others reported that their Circle tweets were reaching even further than those who follow them.<\/p>\n Privacy breaches aside, some Circle tweets still are showing up without the green banner that indicates they\u2019re only visible to a select audience. You can tell that these tweets aren\u2019t public because the retweet button will be greyed out. These tweets still are only reaching their intended Circles, so it\u2019s not necessarily a privacy issue, but it can be a confusing user experience (personally, I have fielded a few messages from friends who were surprised I was tweeting so openly about what neighborhood I live in \u2014 I had to reassure them that despite the absence of the green banner, the post was private). TechCrunch first reported on that particular glitch<\/a> in February, and it still has not been fixed.<\/p>\n In moments like these, I remember something that former Twitter Trust & Safety head Yoel Roth said<\/a> shortly after leaving the company.<\/p>\n \u201cIf protected tweets stop working, run, because that\u2019s a symptom that something is deeply wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n