Twitter Introduces Twitter Privacy Center for Users and Partners

Twitter unveiled the Twitter Privacy Center Monday, a single destination for information about its privacy policies for both its users and its partners. Data protection officer Damien Kieran and product lead Kayvon Beykpour said in a blog post that the Twitter Privacy Center will host all information about privacy-related initiatives, announcements, new products and details about incidents that occur. [kickout id="1"] The social network also used the new Twitter Privacy Center to share some updates to its terms and privacy policy that take effect Jan. 1, 2020. In terms, the entity that provides service to people outside of the U.S., European Union and European Economic Area is changing from Twitter International Co. to Twitter Inc. Twitter explained that the change will give it the flexibility to test features and settings and provide users with controls, such as opt-in and opt-out preferences, prompts and requirements for advertising on the platform. The social network wrote, “Over the past 18 months and based on initial learnings from our global privacy research project, we know that different people want different experiences—“one size does not fit all” when it comes to things like personalization. So, in order to do that, we need to have flexibility to test a range of controls. Europe’s latest privacy law is still relatively new, but early interpretations don’t appear to provide that flexibility.” Twitter is also clarifying the intellectual property license that people grant it when they use its services, writing, “we want people to understand that when they put content on Twitter, among other things, we can curate, transform and translate the content.” The company added more explanations to its privacy policy about information advertisers might obtain when people engage with ads on its platform and how users’ data is processed when they use its products and services. Twitter also reinforced that unless tweets are from protected accounts, they are publicly shared with all people on Twitter, as well as developers that use the social network’s application-programming interfaces. Finally, in order to alleviate confusion about the purpose of the setting, the “personalizing across your devices” was renamed “personalizing based on your inferred identity.” Kieran and Beykpour outlined Twitter’s three areas of focus in its work to protect users’ privacy and data: Fix technical debt: They explained that in cases where new features and services were built on top of older systems, those older systems may not have been developed to support those new uses, adding, “We have been working to make sure our systems meet your expectations, and when they don’t or when we have found issues that may require your attention to keep you safe and secure, we have told you about them.” Build privacy into products: Saying, “Privacy by design is a priority with every product we build,” Kieran and Beykpour said all products are reviewed by the company’s information security, product and privacy counsel teams, and every new employee undergoes data privacy, security and management training. Internal group Twitter Doves cultivates the company’s best practices for data, security and management. And Twitter is speaking with people around the world to learn what they expect when they share their information. Remain accountable: Saying, “We know that there is no silver bullet that will make people trust us with their data,” Kieran and Beykpour explained that the company continues to invest in its data management organization in order to account for the data it has, how it is used and when it is shared, adding, “To make sure everyone at Twitter is accountable, privacy and data protection is the heart of our 2020 companywide priority to build products that earn the trust of people who use them.” They concluded, “Twitter is not perfect at privacy and data protection. But we want you to know that our statements are not a cliché, but backed by an evolving privacy and data protection program intended to keep your data secure and us accountable.”