Twitter partly gives its users more control over their data

Those who use the 140-character short message service can then control the use of their data more precisely. However, Twitter has removed an important privacy option.

What are the innovations?

In the "Personalization and data" section, the short message service will in future give its users the option of more precisely controlling "how Twitter personalizes content and collects and shares certain data. There, users can check the box to decide whether Twitter should tailor advertising to the user and whether the service can also include the apps installed on mobile devices. Twitter promises to only include the list of apps, "not the data contained in the apps." Apps related to "sensitive topics" such as health or sexual orientation should "not be collected if possible," according to the news service. Users can also specify in the section whether Twitter can evaluate their locations and the devices they use for advertising purposes.

What data does Twitter share with its partners?

Anyone who agrees to the option "Share data via selected partnerships" must expect Twitter to make "certain private data" available to advertising partners. However, Twitter explains that name, e-mail address and telephone number are to remain exempt from being passed on to third parties. How long the service will stick to this promise, however, is "completely unclear," warns Carola Elbrecht, legal officer at the German Federation of Consumer Organizations (vzbv). WhatsApp initially made similar statements, she says, and eventually exchanged data with Facebook after all.

Where can users see what Twitter knows about them?

The "Your Twitter data" section provides an overview of what Twitter has stored about the user. Certain information can also be changed there, such as the "interests" determined by Twitter through profile and activity. For example, users who do not want to see advertisements for "comedy" or "entrepreneurship" can delete these entries.

Can the advertising be switched off completely?

Even with the new privacy policy, advertising content cannot be deactivated. However, anyone who does not value customized advertising can simply click on the "Deactivate all" button in the "Individualization and data" section. This selection is also suitable for anyone who wants to reveal as little data about themselves to Twitter as possible.

What's going away with the new privacy policies?

Twitter will no longer support the browser setting "Do Not Track" (DNT) in the future - it had not become an industry standard as hoped. Some browsers offer DNT to their users so that their surfing behavior is not tracked across services or pages. However, the fact that the implementation of the DNT standard is neither mandatory nor clearly defined means that consumers cannot be sure that companies will adhere to this signal. Instead of DNT, Twitter now offers its users "more detailed privacy settings." In terms of privacy quality, that carries a risk. "If the simple yes-no decision in DNT is now replaced by complicated privacy settings, this may overwhelm many users," says Matthias Enzmann of the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology.

What do consumer advocates say?

VZBV legal officer Elbrecht considers the presentation of personal data protection settings to be "fairly transparent". She is concerned about Twitter's default settings in the "Individualization and data" section. Users would first have to actively decide against passing on data. It is also worrying that these settings were implemented in the accounts before the new data protection guidelines came into force. "We can only hope that Twitter is not yet using this data," says Elbrecht. (SDA)