Twitter bug makes some private Circle tweets public

Don’t count on your Twitter Circle tweets being limited to a close-knit group, at least for the time being. Users have discovered a bug that exposes at least some private Circle posts to outsiders. They frequently show up in followers’ For You recommendations, but some say the content is reaching total strangers. As you might imagine, that could be problematic if you’re discussing a sensitive topic or want to minimize potential harassment.

Twitter is unavailable for comment as it has disbanded its public relations team. Creator Theo Brown tellsTechCrunch Twitter may be failing to filter Circle tweets out of its recommendation system before they’re shared with other users.

Circles have been glitchy for months, but the flaws aren’t known to have shared tweets with people outside a Circle. They sometimes haven’t included the label indicating their Circle-only status, even if it was clear they couldn’t be shared elsewhere. This is considerably worse — …read more