Twitter, one of the most popular social media platforms, recently experienced a glitch that resulted in the removal of some tweets and links posted before 2014. This unexpected incident has raised concerns among users and sparked discussions about the cause and implications of the glitch. The glitch, which occurred in August 2023, led to the disappearance of old tweets and links from the platform. While there has been no official statement from Twitter regarding the issue, it has been reported by various sources. The Verge claims that the glitch was responsible for the loss of old tweets and links.
Reuters reports that the glitch comes after Twitter slowed down access to rival social media platforms, such as Threads and Facebook. Removing tweets and links from before 2014 has sparked discussions about the potential impact on users. Many users rely on Twitter as a means of communication and documentation. The loss of older content raises concerns about the preservation of digital history. It is worth noting that this is not the first time Twitter has faced technical issues. In 2018, a different glitch caused passwords to be stored in readable text on Twitter’s internal computer system. This led the company to urge its users to change their passwords. These incidents highlight theissues faced by social media platforms in maintaining the security and integrity of user data.
Tom Coates, a British tech expert is the first to discover that tweets and links on Twitter posted before 2014 are no longer there. According to The Verge, this action has caused strong dissatisfaction among users.
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In response to Tom Coates’s findings, Neil Hartner, a Senior staff software engineer at Ripple working on ODL said “I can confirm all the media and links I posted before 2014 no longer work. What a weird thing to do unannounced.” Neil got his confirmation after going through his Twitter handle to check for tweets older than 2014. In addition to Coates, a popular Brazillian vtuber, @DaniloTakagi also spotted the changes on Twitter. Judging by the posts visible on the author’s personal account. This issue doesn’t affect videos, but links and images.
After the report from Tom Coates and Neil Hartner who are both tech experts, we did our own original research. A search on our Twitter page shows that many tweets and links which are older than 2014 are gone. This, for us, directly confirms the claims of the two tech experts. The absence of tweets older than 2014 is not a rumour, it’s a fact and we have confirmed this. Daily Mail and The Verge have also confirmed this report.
This is a global issue as users from different parts of the world have confirmed that older (before 2014) is no longer available. In addition to reports from Reuters and The Verge confirming that this is a global issue, two editors on GizChina from different continents have verified the issue.
Reasons for the glitch
Regarding why the glitch deleted the links, Forbes and the Economic Times reported that Twitter did not respond to questions. Matt Novak, a senior contributor at Forbes wrote “Twitter did not respond to questions emailed on Saturday. I’ll update this article if I hear back.”
Similarly, Economic Times wrote, “Musk or X were yet to comment on the issue that has affected users globally.”
So, we will have to be patient and keep a tab on credible sources like Elon Musk’s Twitter handle and Forbes. We will update this article when there is credible information as to what caused the glitch.
Final Words
Twitter’s recent changes have caused controversy among users who have lost their old tweets and links. However, it’s important to remember that Twitter is a private company, and they have the right to change their platform as they see fit.
