Skip to main content

Twitter bug causes Fleets to remain visible after 24 hours

A bug in Twitter’s new Fleets feature allows the content of fleets to be visible after 24 hours, even after they are supposed to be deleted.

The feature, rolled out this week, was supposed to allow users to post ephemeral messages which disappeared after a short time. But the bug meant anyone could theoretically access and download others’ fleets even after their expiration.

Recommended Videos

The bug, first reported by TechCrunch, was disclosed by Twitter user @donk_enby, who detailed how the Twitter API could be used to scrap fleets. They detailed how they were able to use leaked consumer keys to access the firehose of all public Twitter data, from which they could scrap the fleets.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

A Twitter spokesperson told TechCrunch that they were aware of the bug and were working on a fix. They hoped the fix would be rolled out shortly. However, even with the fix in place, fleets may remain on the Twitter servers for up to 30 days after they are posted.

The Fleets feature, which was first rolled out in South America in March this year, aims to copy the popular “Stories” feature from Instagram and the Snapchat format. Users can post short texts, photos, or videos, like a regular tweet, but the content is automatically deleted after a set period of time — in this case, 24 hours. The feature was particularly popular among the younger userbase of Snapchat due to its informality, as it required less polish to post a quick thought rather than a post that would last indefinitely.

Fleets drew more attention when they were rolled out to the rest of the world earlier this month. With ephemeral tweets which could not be liked or retweeted, reactions from Twitter users about this more casual way to interact with the platform have been mixed. Some users are concerned about security and harassment, saying that even people who are blocked can interact via fleets.

The issue with fleets being accessible even after they are supposed to have disappeared is likely to only deepen these concerns. For now, if you are going to use the fleets feature, we recommend being careful not to post anything that you don’t want to be visible and accessible by others.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
Microsoft restores Outlook after a bizarre bug affects users for hours
microsoft outlook getting new features

Microsoft finally corrected an annoying bug that severely impacted Outlook desktop app users on the evening of May 11.

The computer giant says a fix for an issue where email text might disappear, or where users might have trouble viewing the content of an email sent to them, has now officially rolled out, and there should no longer be issues.

Read more
Misbehaving ‘baby’ black holes could cause strange brightening of radio galaxies
The radio galaxy Hercules A has an active supermassive black hole at its centre. Here it is pictured emitting high energy particles in jets expanding out into radio lobes.

The radio galaxy Hercules A has an active supermassive black hole at its center. Here it is pictured emitting high energy particles in jets expanding out into radio lobes. NASA/ESA/NRAO

The more we learn about black holes, the more mysterious they seem to be. A new study has looked at "baby" supermassive black holes, which lie at the heart of young galaxies, and found that they may be misbehaving in intriguing ways.

Read more
Scientists discover ancient rocky Super-Earth where a year lasts just 11 hours
Artist’s rendition of TOI-561, one of the oldest, most metal-poor planetary systems discovered yet in the Milky Way galaxy.

Artist’s rendition of TOI-561, one of the oldest, most metal-poor planetary systems discovered yet in the Milky Way galaxy. W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko

Researchers have identified one of the oldest planetary systems ever discovered, and it's a strange one. A rocky planet called TOI-561b orbits a star that is 10 billion years old, more than twice the age of our sun which shows that planets have been forming since the early days of the universe.

Read more