NEWS27 November 2014

Twitter defends data collection

US — Twitter has clarified its data collection strategy following reports that it is tailoring content according to the apps users have downloaded on their mobile phones.

In the latest incident of a company having to address data privacy issues, the social media platform stated on its site that it is ‘only collecting the list of applications installed’ and that it is not collecting any data within the applications.

Twitter went on to say it was ‘collecting and occasionally updating the list of apps installed’ on mobile devices so that it could deliver ‘tailored content’. It explained how users can opt-out of the tracking which is, by default, switched on.

Users have found tweets in their timelines from accounts they have not chosen to follow because it has used an algorithm to identify content recipients may like.

To justify this change, Twitter also explained in its post how its ‘app graph’ was personalising users’ experience of the platform such as by improving its ‘who to follow’ suggestions and promotional content.