Twitter apologizes after bug caused it to share some users' location data with third-party company
Twitter 'inadvertently' collected and shared location data with an ad partner
Users affected had multiple accounts and had precise location sharing activated
It's unclear how many users were hit by the bug or for how long it was shared for
Twitter has apologized after a bug resulted in the sharing of location data from iOS devices.
The social media site said it discovered it was 'inadvertently collecting and sharing iOS location data with one of our trusted partners in certain circumstances.'
Twitter said the location data has not been retained and has since been deleted.
The bug affected users that had multiple accounts on Twitter's iOS app and opted into a feature sharing their precise location in one account.
'We may have accidentally collected location data when you were using any other account(s) on that same device for which you had not turned on the precise location feature,' the company said.
Twitter also said it accidentally sent user location data to a 'trusted partner' during the 'real time bidding' advertising process.
Location data that was shared wasn't 'precise' and it was 'fuzzed' to only include data like zip codes and cities accurate within a five-kilometer-squared area, the firm added.
'This location data could not be used to determine an address or to map your precise movements,' the company explained.
'The partner did not receive data such as your Twitter handle or other unique account IDs that could have compromised your identity on Twitter.'
Twitter confirmed the information was not retained, adding it 'only existed in their systems for a short time, and was then deleted as part of their normal process.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7025065/Twitter-apologises-sharing-iOS-location-data.html