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Do not fill this in! ==Technology== ===Implementation=== Twitter relies on [[open-source software]].<ref name="zdnet vaughannichols 2012">{{cite news|last=Vaughan-Nichols|first=Steven|title=How Twitter tweets your tweets with open source|url=https://www.zdnet.com/how-twitter-tweets-your-tweets-with-open-source-7000003526/|access-date=September 10, 2012|newspaper=[[ZDNet]]|date=August 30, 2012}}</ref> The Twitter Web interface uses the [[Ruby on Rails]] framework,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0622/software-internet-innovation-digital-tools.html |title=The Pied Piper of Pay|work=[[Forbes]] |first=Lee |last=Gomes |date=June 22, 2009 |access-date=June 16, 2009}}</ref> deployed on a performance enhanced [[Ruby Enterprise Edition]] implementation of [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Ryan |last=King |date = September 25, 2009 |title = Twitter on Ruby |url = http://blog.evanweaver.com/articles/2009/09/24/ree/ |quote=We recently migrated Twitter from a custom Ruby 1.8.6 build to a Ruby Enterprise Edition release candidate, courtesy of Phusion. Our primary motivation was the integration of Brent's MBARI patches, which increase memory stability. |access-date=October 31, 2009}}</ref>{{Update inline|date=October 2022}} In the early days of Twitter, tweets were stored in [[MySQL]] databases that were temporally [[Shard (database architecture)|sharded]] (large databases were split based on time of posting). After the huge volume of tweets coming in caused problems reading from and writing to these databases, the company decided that the system needed re-engineering.<ref name="Krikorian-2013">{{cite web|url=https://blog.twitter.com/engineering/en_us/a/2013/new-tweets-per-second-record-and-how|title=New Tweets per second record, and how!|first=Raffi|last=Krikorian|date=August 16, 2013|access-date=November 22, 2021|work=Twitter Blogs|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130822102815/https://blog.twitter.com/2013/new-tweets-per-second-record-and-how|archive-date=August 22, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> From Spring 2007 to 2008, the messages were handled by a Ruby [[persistent data structure|persistent]] queue server called Starling.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=January 11, 2009 |url=http://dev.twitter.com/2008/01/announcing-starling.html |title=Announcing Starling |publisher=Twitter |date=January 16, 2008 |last=Payne |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120141113/http://dev.twitter.com/2008/01/announcing-starling.html|archive-date=January 20, 2008}}</ref> Since 2009, implementation has been gradually replaced with software written in [[Scala (programming language)|Scala]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artima.com/scalazine/articles/twitter_on_scala.html |title=Twitter on Scala |date=April 3, 2009 |first=Bill |last=Venners |publisher=Artima Developer |access-date=June 17, 2009}}</ref> The switch from Ruby to Scala and the [[Java Virtual Machine|JVM]] has given Twitter a performance boost from 200 to 300 requests per second per host to around 10,000β20,000 requests per second per host. This boost was greater than the 10x improvement that Twitter's engineers envisioned when starting the switch. The continued development of Twitter has also involved a switch from monolithic development of a single app to an architecture where different services are built independently and joined through [[remote procedure call]]s.<ref name="Krikorian-2013" /> As of April 6, 2011, Twitter engineers confirmed that they had switched away from their Ruby on Rails search stack to a [[Java (programming language)|Java]] server they call Blender.<ref name="Twitter coding">{{cite news|url=https://blog.twitter.com/2011/twitter-search-is-now-3x-faster |title=Twitter Search Is Now 3x Faster|date=April 6, 2011}}</ref> Individual tweets are registered under unique IDs called [[Snowflake ID|snowflakes]], and geolocation data is added using 'Rockdove'. The URL shortener ''[[t.co]]'' then checks for a [[Messaging spam|spam]] link and shortens the URL. Next, the tweets are stored in a MySQL database using [[Gizzard (Scala framework)|Gizzard]], and the user receives an acknowledgement that the tweets were sent. Tweets are then sent to search engines via the [[Firehose (software)|Firehose]] API. The process is managed by [[FlockDB]] and takes an average of {{nowrap|350 ms}}.<ref name="zdnet vaughannichols 2012" /> On August 16, 2013, [[Raffi Krikorian]], Twitter's vice president of platform engineering, shared in a blog post that the company's infrastructure handled almost 143,000 tweets per second during that week, setting a new record. Krikorian explained that Twitter achieved this record by blending its homegrown and open source technologies.<ref name="Krikorian-2013" /><ref>{{cite web|title=How Twitter scaled its infrastructure to handle record tweet-per-second days|url=http://gigaom.com/2013/08/16/how-twitter-scaled-it-infrastructure-to-handle-record-tweet-per-second-days/|work=GIGAOM|access-date=August 17, 2013|first=Om|last=Malik|date=August 17, 2013|archive-date=February 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224134908/https://gigaom.com/2013/08/16/how-twitter-scaled-it-infrastructure-to-handle-record-tweet-per-second-days/|url-status=dead}}</ref> === API and developer platform === Twitter was recognized for having one of the most open and powerful developer [[API]]s of any major technology company.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 11, 2012 |title=Top 10 Web APIs β Bridging Today's Technology |newspaper=WebDAM |url=https://webdam.com/blog/top-10-web-apis_bridging-todays-technology/ |access-date=December 18, 2016}}</ref> The service's API allows other [[web service]]s and applications to integrate with Twitter.<ref>{{cite web |title=Twitter API Wiki / FrontPage |url=http://apiwiki.twitter.com/ |access-date=September 18, 2010 |publisher=Apiwiki.twitter.com}}</ref> Developer interest in Twitter began immediately following its launch, prompting the company to release the first version of its public API in September 2006.<ref>{{cite web |title=Introducing the Twitter API {{!}} Twitter Blogs |url=https://blog.twitter.com/2006/introducing-the-twitter-api |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223145220/https://blog.twitter.com/2006/introducing-the-twitter-api |archive-date=December 23, 2016 |access-date=December 18, 2016 |website=blog.twitter.com}}</ref> The API quickly became iconic as a reference implementation for public [[REST API]]s and is widely cited in programming tutorials.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ruby on Rails Tutorial (Rails 5) |url=https://www.railstutorial.org/book/beginning |access-date=December 18, 2016 |website=Softcover.io}}</ref> From 2006 until 2010, Twitter's developer platform experienced strong growth and a highly favorable reputation. Developers built upon the public API to create the first Twitter mobile phone clients as well as the first URL shortener. Between 2010 and 2012, however, Twitter made a number of decisions that were received unfavorably by the developer community.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 23, 2016 |title=Twitter's 10 Year Struggle with Developer Relations {{!}} Nordic APIs {{!}} |newspaper=Nordic APIs |url=http://nordicapis.com/twitter-10-year-struggle-with-developer-relations/ |access-date=December 18, 2016}}</ref> In 2010, Twitter mandated that all developers adopt [[OAuth]] authentication with just 9 weeks of notice.<ref>{{cite web |last=Parr |first=Ben |date=April 25, 2010 |title=Twitter Launches Countdown to OAuthcalypse |url=http://mashable.com/2010/04/24/twitter-oauthcalypse/ |access-date=December 18, 2016 |website=Mashable}}</ref> Later that year, Twitter launched its own URL shortener, in direct competition with some of its most well-known third-party developers.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Twitter to launch URL shortener and may block TinyURL and bit.ly |newspaper=ComputerWeekly |url=http://www.computerweekly.com/news/1280092587/Twitter-to-launch-URL-shortener-and-may-block-TinyURL-and-bitly |access-date=December 18, 2016}}</ref> And in 2012, Twitter introduced stricter usage limits for its API, "completely crippling" some developers.<ref>{{cite web |last=Streams |first=Kimber |date=November 11, 2012 |title=Tweetro says it's 'completely crippled' by Twitter's strict 100,000 user token limit |url=https://www.theverge.com/2012/11/11/3631108/tweetro-user-token-limit-api |access-date=December 18, 2016 |website=The Verge}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Wauters |first=Robin |date=August 17, 2012 |title=Twitter API Changes Set Maximum User Cap for 3rd Parties |url=https://thenextweb.com/twitter/2012/08/17/twitter-4 |access-date=May 9, 2013 |publisher=Thenextweb.com}}</ref> While these moves successfully increased the stability and security of the service, they were broadly perceived as hostile to developers, causing them to lose trust in the platform.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ha |first=Anthony |title=Twitter Handcuffs Client Apps With New API Changes |url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/16/twitter-api-client-apps/ |access-date=December 18, 2016 |website=TechCrunch|date=August 16, 2012}}</ref> In July 2020, Twitter released version 2.0 of the public API<ref>{{cite web |date=July 16, 2020 |title=Twitter introduces a new, fully rebuilt developer API, launching next week |url=https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/16/twitter-introduces-a-new-fully-rebuilt-developer-api-launching-next-week/ |access-date=April 28, 2022 |website=TechCrunch}}</ref> and began showcasing Twitter apps made by third-party developers on its Twitter Toolbox section in April 2022.<ref>{{cite web |date=April 21, 2022 |title=Twitter wants to win back developer trus |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/21/twitter-to-promote-developers-apps-directly-on-its-platform/ |access-date=April 28, 2022 |website=TechCrunch}}</ref> In January 2023, Twitter ended third-party access to its APIs, forcing all third-party Twitter clients to shut down.<ref>{{cite web |title=RIP Third-Party Twitter Clients |url=https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/rip-third-party-twitter-clients |website=PCMag |access-date=April 5, 2023}}</ref> This was controversial among the developer community, as many third-party apps predated the company's official apps, and the change was not announced beforehand. Twitterrific's Sean Heber confirmed in a blog post that the 16-year-old app has been discontinued. "We are sorry to say that the app's sudden and undignified demise is due to an unannounced and undocumented policy change by an increasingly capricious Twitter β a Twitter that we no longer recognize as trustworthy nor want to work with any longer."<ref>{{cite web |title=Twitterrific: End of an Era |url=https://blog.iconfactory.com/2023/01/twitterrific-end-of-an-era/ |website=Iconfactory: The Breakroom |access-date=April 5, 2023}}</ref> In February 2023, Twitter announced it would be ending free access to Twitter API, and began offering paid tier plans with a more limited access.<ref>{{cite web |title=Twitter is shutting down its free API, here's what's going to break |url=https://www.engadget.com/twitter-shutting-off-free-api-prepare-174340770.html |website=Engadget |date=February 8, 2023 |access-date=April 5, 2023}}</ref> ===Innovators patent agreement=== On April 17, 2012, Twitter announced it would implement an "Innovators Patent Agreement" which would obligate Twitter to only use its patents {{clarify span|for defensive purposes.|date=July 2020}}<ref>{{cite web |last=O'Brien |first=Terrence |date=April 17, 2012 |title=Twitter introduces Innovators Patent Agreement, vows not to abuse patent system |url=https://www.engadget.com/2012/04/17/twitter-introduces-innovators-patent-agreement/ |access-date=August 11, 2012 |work=[[Engadget]] |publisher=[[AOL]]}}</ref> ===Open source=== Twitter has a history of both using and releasing [[open-source software]] while overcoming technical challenges of their service.<ref>{{cite web |title=Twitter / OpenSource |url=https://dev.twitter.com/opensource |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130415194622/https://dev.twitter.com/opensource |archive-date=April 15, 2013 |access-date=April 18, 2013 |publisher=Twitter.com}}</ref> A page in their developer documentation thanks dozens of open-source projects which they have used, from [[revision control]] software like [[Git (software)|Git]] to programming languages such as Ruby and Scala.<ref>{{cite web |title=Open Source Thanks |url=https://dev.twitter.com/opensource/thanks |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130415200840/https://dev.twitter.com/opensource/thanks |archive-date=April 15, 2013 |access-date=April 18, 2013 |publisher=Twitter}}</ref> Software released as open source by the company includes the [[Gizzard (Scala framework)|Gizzard Scala framework]] for creating distributed datastores, the distributed graph database [[FlockDB]], the Finagle library for building asynchronous [[remote procedure call|RPC]] servers and clients, the TwUI [[user interface]] framework for [[iOS]], and the Bower client-side package manager.<ref>{{cite web |title=Open Source |url=https://twitter.github.io/ |access-date=January 4, 2017 |publisher=Twitter}}</ref> The popular [[Bootstrap (front-end framework)|Bootstrap frontend framework]] was also started at Twitter and is 10th most popular repository on [[GitHub]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Search: Stars>1 |url=https://github.com/search?q=stars%3A%3E1&s=stars&type=Repositories |access-date=February 27, 2020 |publisher=GitHub}}</ref> On March 31, 2023, Twitter released the [[source code]] for Twitter's recommendation [[algorithm]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/twitter/the-algorithm |title= Source code for Twitter's Recommendation Algorithm |date= March 31, 2023 |website=GitHub |access-date= April 1, 2023}}</ref> which determines what tweets show up on the user's personal timeline, to [[GitHub]]. According to Twitter's blog post: "We believe that we have a responsibility, as the town square of the internet, to make our platform transparent. So today we are taking the first step in a new era of transparency and opening much of our source code to the global community."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2023/a-new-era-of-transparency-for-twitter|title=A new era of transparency for Twitter|website= Twitter blog|date= March 31, 2023 |access-date= April 1, 2023}}</ref> [[Elon Musk]], the CEO at the time, had been promising the move for a while β on March 24, 2022, before he owned the site, he polled his followers about whether Twitter's algorithm should be open source, and around 83 percent of the responses said "yes". In February, he promised it would happen within a week before pushing back the deadline to March 31 earlier this month.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/31/23664849/twitter-releases-algorithm-musk-open-source |title=Twitter takes its algorithm 'open-source,' as Elon Musk promised |last=Castro |first=Alex |date=March 31, 2023 |website=The Verge |access-date=April 1, 2023}}</ref> Also in March 2023, Twitter suffered a security attack which resulted in proprietary code being released. Twitter then had the source code removed.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/03/27/tech/twitter-source-code-leaked/index.html | title=Twitter says portions of source code leaked online | CNN Business | date=March 27, 2023 }}</ref> ===Interface=== Twitter introduced the first major redesign of its user interface in September 2010, adopting a dual-pane layout with a navigation bar along the top of the screen, and an increased focus on the inline embedding of multimedia content. Critics considered the redesign an attempt to emulate features and experiences found in mobile apps and third-party Twitter clients.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.adweek.com/digital/history-of-twitter-redesigns/|title=A Brief History Of Twitter's Many Redesigns|website=Adweek.com|date=April 26, 2014 |access-date=July 17, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/2010/09/take-a-tour-of-the-new-twitter/|title=Take a Tour of the New Twitter|last=Calore|first=Michael|date=September 16, 2010|magazine=Wired|access-date=July 17, 2019|issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mashable.com/2010/09/14/new-twitter-web-interface/|title=Here Comes the New Twitter.com|last=Ostrow|first=Adam|website=Mashable|access-date=July 17, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mashable.com/2010/09/14/new-twitter-app/|title=The New Twitter Is an Attack on All Desktop Apps|last=Grove|first=Jennifer Van|website=Mashable|date=September 15, 2010|access-date=July 17, 2019}}</ref> The new layout was revised in 2011 with a focus on continuity with the web and mobile versions, introducing "Connect" (interactions with other users such as replies) and "Discover" (further information regarding trending topics and news headlines) tabs, an updated profile design, and moving all content to the right pane (leaving the left pane dedicated to functions and the trending topics list).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2011/12/8/2621244/twitter-redesign-pictures-video|title=Twitter app and website redesign: hands-on pictures and video|last=Houston|first=Thomas|date=December 8, 2011|website=The Verge|access-date=July 17, 2019}}</ref> In March 2012, Twitter became available in [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Persian language|Farsi]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Urdu]], the first right-to-left language versions of the site.<ref>{{cite news |title=Twitter Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu version launch| date=March 7, 2012|access-date=March 7, 2012 |work=BBC News | url =https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17286684}}</ref> In 2023 the Twitter Web site listed 34 languages supported by Twitter.com.<ref>{{cite web | title=Supported languages and browsers | website=Twitter Developer Platform | url=https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/twitter-for-websites/supported-languages|date=June 30, 2020<!--from page source-->| access-date=November 17, 2023}}</ref> In September 2012, a new layout for profiles was introduced, with larger "covers" that could be customized with a custom header image, and a display of the user's recent photos posted.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/sep/18/twitter-redesign-photos|title=Twitter redesign makes more of photos|last=O'Carroll|first=Lisa|date=September 18, 2012|work=The Guardian|access-date=July 17, 2019|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The "Discover" tab was discontinued in April 2015,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2015/4/8/8371319/twitter-is-killing-off-its-discover-tab|title=Twitter is killing off its Discover tab|last=Popper|first=Ben|date=April 8, 2015|website=The Verge|access-date=July 17, 2019}}</ref> and was succeeded on the mobile app by an "Explore" tabβwhich features trending topics and moments.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/26/14391240/twitter-explore-tab-moments-redesign|title=Twitter replaces the Moments tab with Explore|last=Newton|first=Casey|date=January 26, 2017|website=The Verge|access-date=July 17, 2019}}</ref> In September 2018, Twitter began to migrate selected web users to its [[Progressive web applications|progressive web app]] (based on its Twitter Lite experience for mobile web), reducing the interface to two columns. Migrations to this iteration of Twitter increased in April 2019, with some users receiving it with a modified layout.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/twitter-launches-redesigned-desktop-layout/|title=Twitter tests new desktop layouts|last=Musil|first=Steven|website=CNET|access-date=July 17, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/09/progressive-web-apps-moving-mainstream-as-twitter-makes-its-mobile-site-the-main-one/|title=Progressive Web Apps moving mainstream as Twitter makes its mobile site the main one|last=Bright|first=Peter|date=September 6, 2018|website=Ars Technica|access-date=July 17, 2019}}</ref> In July 2019, Twitter officially released this redesign, with no further option to opt-out while logged in. It is designed to further-unify Twitter's user experience between the web and [[mobile application]] versions, adopting a three-column layout with a sidebar containing links to common areas (including "Explore" that has been merged with the search page) which previously appeared in a horizontal top bar, profile elements such as picture and header images and biography texts merged into the same column as the timeline, and features from the mobile version (such as multi-account support, and an opt-out for the "top tweets" mode on the timeline).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/07/twitter-is-changing-twitter-com-to-be-more-like-mobile-app/|title=Twitter is changing Twitter.com to be more like mobile app|last=Gallagher|first=Sean|date=July 15, 2019|website=Ars Technica|access-date=July 17, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/15/20695120/twitter-desktop-redesign-dark-mode-mobile-features|title=Twitter desktop redesign adopts some of its mobile app's best features|last=Lee|first=Dami|date=July 15, 2019|website=The Verge|access-date=July 17, 2019}}</ref> === Security === In response to early Twitter security breaches, the United States [[Federal Trade Commission]] (FTC) brought charges against the service; the charges were settled on June 24, 2010. This was the first time the FTC had taken action against a social network for security lapses. The settlement requires Twitter to take a number of steps to secure users' private information, including maintenance of a "comprehensive information security program" to be independently audited biannually.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gonsalves |first=Antone |date=June 25, 2010 |title=Twitter, Feds Settle Security Charges β Twitter Must Establish and Maintain a 'Comprehensive Information Security Program' and Allow Third-Party Review of the Program Biannually for the 10 Years |url=http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225701450&subSection=Privacy |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101023083911/http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225701450&subSection=Privacy |archive-date=October 23, 2010 |access-date=February 23, 2011 |work=[[InformationWeek]]}}</ref> After a number of high-profile hacks of official accounts, including those of the [[Associated Press]] and ''[[The Guardian]]'',<ref>{{cite web |date=April 30, 2013 |title=Twitter Warns news Organisations Amid Syrian Hacking Attacks |url=http://descrier.co.uk/technology/2013/04/twitter-warns-news-organisations-amid-syrian-hacking-attacks/ |access-date=April 30, 2013 |publisher=Descrier}}</ref> in April 2013, Twitter announced a two-factor login verification as an added measure against hacking.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rodriguez |first=Salvador |date=May 23, 2013 |title=Twitter adds two-step verification option to help fend off hackers |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-twitter-two-step-verification-hackers-20130523,0,5416038.story |access-date=June 10, 2013}}</ref> On July 15, 2020, a [[2020 Twitter bitcoin scam|major hack of Twitter]] affected 130 high-profile accounts, both verified and unverified ones such as [[Barack Obama]], [[Bill Gates]], and [[Elon Musk]]; the hack allowed [[bitcoin]] scammers to send tweets via the compromised accounts that asked the followers to send bitcoin to a given public address, with the promise to double their money.<ref name="Statt">{{Cite web |last=Statt |first=Nick |date=July 15, 2020 |title=Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Apple, and others hacked in unprecedented Twitter attack |url=https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/15/21326200/elon-musk-bill-gates-twitter-hack-bitcoin-scam-compromised |access-date=July 15, 2020 |website=The Verge}}</ref> Within a few hours, Twitter disabled tweeting and reset passwords from all verified accounts.<ref name="Statt" /> Analysis of the event revealed that the scammers had used [[social engineering (security)|social engineering]] to obtain credentials from Twitter employees to access an administration tool used by Twitter to view and change these accounts' personal details as to gain access as part of a "[[smash and grab]]" attempt to make money quickly, with an estimated {{USD|120,000}} in bitcoin deposited in various accounts before Twitter intervened.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Conger |first1=Kate |last2=Popper |first2=Nathaniel |date=July 17, 2020 |title=Hackers Tell the Story of the Twitter Attack From the Inside |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/technology/twitter-hackers-interview.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717210005/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/technology/twitter-hackers-interview.html |archive-date=July 17, 2020 |access-date=July 17, 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Several law enforcement entities including the FBI launched investigations into the attack.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=McMillan |first1=Robert |last2=Volz |first2=Dustin |date=July 19, 2020 |title=FBI Investigates Twitter Hack Amid Broader Concerns About Platform's Security |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-investigates-twitter-hack-amid-broader-concerns-about-platforms-security-11594922537 |access-date=July 7, 2020 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]}}</ref> On August 5, 2022, Twitter disclosed that a bug introduced in a June 2021 update to the service allowed threat actors to link email addresses and phone numbers to twitter user's accounts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Twitter confirms zero-day used to expose data of 5.4 million accounts |url=https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/twitter-confirms-zero-day-used-to-expose-data-of-54-million-accounts/ |access-date=August 11, 2022 |website=BleepingComputer}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=August 8, 2022 |title=Twitter Confirms Data Breach That Exposed Data Of 5.4 Million Users; Attackers May Still Have Data |url=https://www.news18.com/news/tech/twitter-confirms-data-breach-that-exposed-data-of-5-4-million-users-attackers-may-still-have-data-5709259.html |access-date=August 11, 2022 |website=News18}}</ref> The bug was reported through Twitter's [[bug bounty program]] in January 2022 and subsequently fixed. While Twitter originally believed no one had taken advantage of the vulnerability, it was later revealed that a user on the online hacking forum Breached Forums had used the vulnerability to compile a list of over 5.4 million user profiles, which they offered to sell for $30,000.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Paganini |first=Pierluigi |date=August 5, 2022 |title=Twitter confirms zero-day used to access data of 5.4 million accounts |url=https://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/134087/data-breach/twitter-zero-day-data-leak.html |access-date=August 11, 2022 |website=Security Affairs}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Carter |first=Dylan |publisher=[[The Brussels Times]] |title=Twitter admits to data breach exposing contact info for 5.4 million accounts |url=https://www.brusselstimes.com/business/269326/twitter-admits-to-data-breach-exposing-contact-info-for-5-4-million-accounts |access-date=August 11, 2022 |website=www.brusselstimes.com}}</ref> The information compiled by the hacker includes user's screen names, location and email addresses which could be utilised in [[phishing]] attacks or used to deanonymize accounts running under pseudonyms. ===Outages=== [[File:Failwhale.png|thumb|right|The Twitter fail whale [[error message]]]] During an outage, Twitter users were at one time shown the "fail whale" [[error message]] image created by [[Yiying Lu]],<ref>{{Cite news |author=Walker, Rob |author-link=Rob Walker (journalist) |date=February 15, 2009 |title=Consumed β Fail Whale |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15wwln_consumed-t.html?_r=2 |access-date=February 15, 2009 |work=[[The New York Times Magazine]] |page=17}}{{Registration required|date=February 2011}}</ref> illustrating eight orange birds using a net to hoist a whale from the ocean captioned "Too many tweets! Please wait a moment and try again."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Whyte|first=Murray|access-date=February 23, 2011|url=https://www.thestar.com/News/Ideas/article/434826|title=Tweet, Tweet β There's Been an Earthquake |work=[[Toronto Star]]| date=June 1, 2008}}</ref> Web designer and Twitter user [[Jen Simmons]] was the first to coin the term "fail whale" in a September 2007 tweet.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=August 30, 2019|title=La vera storia della balena di Twitter|trans-title=The real story of the Twitter whale|url=https://www.lastampa.it/tecnologia/2015/01/24/news/la-vera-storia-della-balena-di-twitter-1.35307426|date=January 24, 2015|website=[[La Stampa]]|language=it|archive-date=March 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308154549/https://www.lastampa.it/tecnologia/2015/01/24/news/la-vera-storia-della-balena-di-twitter-1.35307426|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite tweet |number=845050439 |user=jensimmons |title=Oh, fail whale, you are making my website fail. No more wordpress-twitter-crossposting. |author=Simmons, Jen |date=September 2, 2007}}</ref> In a November 2013 ''Wired'' interview Chris Fry, VP of Engineering at that time, noted that the company had taken the "fail whale" out of production as the platform was now more stable.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2013/11/qa-with-chris-fry/ |title=Killing the Fail Whale With Twitter's Christopher Fry |magazine=Wired |date= November 25, 2013|access-date=May 4, 2018}}</ref> Twitter had approximately ninety-eight percent [[uptime]] in 2007 (or about six full days of downtime).<ref>{{cite web|access-date=February 23, 2011|url=http://royal.pingdom.com/2007/12/19/twitter-growing-pains-cause-lots-of-downtime-in-2007/|title=Twitter Growing Pains Cause Lots of Downtime in 2007|publisher=Royal Pingdom ([[blog]] of [[Pingdom]])|date=December 19, 2007|archive-date=December 29, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229114042/http://royal.pingdom.com/2007/12/19/twitter-growing-pains-cause-lots-of-downtime-in-2007/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The downtime was particularly noticeable during events popular with the technology industry such as the 2008 [[Macworld Conference & Expo]] keynote address.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=February 23, 2011|url=http://blog.twitter.com/2008/01/macworld.html|title=MacWorld|publisher=Twitter Blog ([[blog]] of Twitter)|date=January 15, 2008|author=Dorsey, Jack|author-link=Jack Dorsey}}</ref><ref name="downtime4">{{cite web|access-date=May 7, 2008|url=http://theappslab.com/2008/01/15/macworld-brings-twitter-to-its-knees/|title=MacWorld Brings Twitter to its Knees|publisher=Oracle AppsLab|date=January 15, 2008|author=Kuramoto, Jake|archive-date=July 16, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716221537/http://theappslab.com/2008/01/15/macworld-brings-twitter-to-its-knees/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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