SOCIAL
Twitter Launches New Privacy Center to Better Communicate Platform Rules and Processes
Data security has become a key issue in social media circles over the past two years, and as we head into another US Presidential election cycle, you can bet that debate around data privacy, and the use of personal information for targeting, will again be a topic of heated debate.
In line with this, Twitter has announced the launch of its new Privacy Center, which Twitter says will:
“…provide more clarity around what we’re doing to protect the information people share with us. It is the central place that host’s everything that’s part of our privacy and data protection work: related initiatives, announcements, new privacy products, and communication about security incidents. It should be easier to find and learn more about the work we’re doing to to keep your data secure, including what data we collect, how we use it, and the controls you have.”
The new Privacy Center facilitates direct connection to the platform’s rules and policy documents, as well as your personal data settings and privacy tools.
It also includes links to related regulatory documentation, including the GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act, and an overview of updates to Twitter’s terms and processes. The actual launch of the new Privacy Center also aligns with the implementation of the California Consumer Privacy Act, which will require large businesses to give consumers more transparency and control over their personal information. The act comes into effect from January 1st, 2020.
While Facebook has been at the forefront of social media data privacy processes, Twitter too has had its share of user data issues. Back in October, Twitter issued an apology over the use of people’s email addresses and phone numbers, which had been provided purely for account security purposes, in order to match those users with more relevant ads. Twitter has since corrected the issue, and it says that it’s making data security a key focus moving forward.
“To make sure everyone at Twitter is accountable, privacy and data protection is the heart of our 2020 company-wide priority to build products that earn the trust of people who use them. Also, launching the Twitter Privacy Center provides a central place to keep you updated on our privacy and data protection work and aid us in being accountable to you through transparency.”
With the potential impacts of such misuse becoming more widely known, it makes sense for Twitter to provide more tools on this front, in order to help users maintain better understanding of how their information is being utilized as a result of their platform use. Of course, that’s only truly valuable if people bother to check in on the information available, but Twitter is working to make that more viable by enabling better connection to relevant documentation and tools.
You can check out Twitter’s new Privacy Center here.