In April, a bug with Twitter’s Circle feature was discovered, causing private tweets to be exposed to strangers. Nearly a month later, the company has finally commented on the issue. In an email obtained by The Guardian, Twitter informed affected users that the exposure resulted from “a security incident that occurred earlier this year.”

Twitter’s response to leaked Circle tweets

The company claims that the issue was “immediately fixed” and offered an apology. “Twitter is committed to protecting the privacy of the people who use our service, and we understand the risks that an incident like this can introduce and we deeply regret this happened,” the company stated. When news of the exposure initially circulated online, some speculated that the problem was caused by Twitter failing to filter Circle tweets out of its recommendation algorithm. Twitter, which has not operated a communications department since Elon Musk‘s first round of layoffs, did not initially acknowledge the issue.

Technical challenges faced since Musk’s takeover

Since Musk’s takeover of the company in October, Twitter has faced a growing number of technical issues. The billionaire has reduced the company’s workforce by at least 60%, leaving many of its technical teams without senior leadership. Consequently, Twitter has experienced multiple outages and confusion over feature rollouts and removals. As the company works to address these challenges, users and stakeholders alike will be keeping a close eye on how Twitter manages privacy and security moving forward.