A Twitter app bug was used to match 17 million phone numbers to user accounts

[Paul.R]

Content source

https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/24/twitter-android-bug-phone-numbers/

A security researcher said he has matched 17 million phone numbers to Twitter user accounts by exploiting a flaw in Twitter’s Android app.

Ibrahim Balic found that it was possible to upload entire lists of generated phone numbers through Twitter’s contacts upload feature. “If you upload your phone number, it fetches user data in return,” he told TechCrunch.

...

Over a two-month period, Balic said he matched records from users in Israel, Turkey, Iran, Greece, Armenia, France and Germany, he said, but stopped after Twitter blocked the effort on December 20.

 

[RejZoR]

They couldn't match mine because I refused to give it to Twitter despite their endless bitching and begging for it. To a point I was fed up with their crap and just terminated my account. It was garbage platform anyway. And still is apparently.

 

[codswollip]

To a point I was fed up with their crap and just terminated my account.

I closed two accounts a year ago after purging my history. Twitter's signal:noise ratio is abysmal. "SocialMedia" (Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/etc.) is a joke. Can we just have USENET back again?