Twitter may have sent your private DMs to the wrong people – but probably not

A Twitter bug may have sent direct messages to developers who were not supposed to get them, the company said on Friday.

Twitter said it discovered the bug in its Account Activity API (AAAPI), which allows registered developers to create tools to help businesses communicate with their customers. Users who interacted with accounts or businesses that relied on developers using the AAAPI could have their direct messages or protected tweets sent to the wrong people. For example, a direct message to an airline about lost baggage may have been accidentally sent to the wrong recipient.

In a statement, Twitter said it was "very sorry that it happened".

The question started last May. Twitter said it released a fix on Thursday, September 10, 2018. The bug affected less than 1 percent of users, the company said.

"Any party likely to have received unplanned information was a registered developer via our development program, which we have significantly expanded in recent months to prevent data abuse and misuse," Twitter said in a statement.

The company said it would contact people directly via a notice in the app and on the Twitter site if their account was affected by the bug.

Some users have tweeted screenshots of notifications received from Twitter.

"Sorry, what ?! My DMs may have been sent to developers for over a year?" The masked reporter Karissa Bell tweeted.

In a tweet, Twitter said, "We did not find any instance where data was sent to the wrong part, but we can not conclusively confirm that it did not happen, you were potentially We will contact you today and we apologize that this has happened. "

We did not find any instance where data was sent to the wrong part. But we can not conclusively confirm that this did not happen, so we tell potentially affected people this problem. If you were potentially involved, we will contact you today. We are sorry that this happened.

– Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) September 21, 2018

In another tweet, the company pointed out that "this only concerns the potential interactions or direct messages that you have had with companies using Twitter for things like customer service. Your other subcontractors are not involved. "

For those who have received notifications today, this only concerns the potential interactions or direct messages that you have had with companies using Twitter for things like customer service. Your other deputy ministers are not involved at all.

– Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) September 21, 2018

Twitter said it has contacted development partners to make sure they remove any information they should not have.

"Our investigation is ongoing," Twitter said in the statement. "We will continue to provide updates with all relevant information."

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