Twitter is in the limelight once again with the court filings published on Friday revealing that a portion of the site’s source code has been leaked online. The code is the base programming that makes Twitter possible. According to court filings, Twitter claimed copyright infringement in an effort to have the offending code taken down from the Github collaborative programming network, where it had been posted.
Sources close to the internal investigation into the leak claim that Twitter executives strongly suspect a disgruntled former employee who left the company “within the last year” to be responsible for the theft. It is also reported that Twitter has requested the US District Court order Github to reveal the identity of the user who uploaded the code and those who accessed and downloaded it.
The leak has raised concerns among Twitter’s top executives that future hacking efforts could be made using the stolen code. It is feared that accessing Twitter user data could also become easier, putting millions of users’ information, including confidential messages at risk.
Since Elon Musk took control of Twitter last October, the site has suffered from a resurgence of scammers and white nationalists. The latest security breach may prove to be the final straw for advertisers and users, who have already been put off by the site’s unstable functionality, endless amounts of misinformation, and rapidly declining user base.
Twitter’s legal challenge to have the leaked coding removed from Github appears to have been successful. However, the duration of the leak was not made clear, and the scope and depth of the breach were not revealed. It is hoped that Twitter will take this incident seriously and adopt strict security measures to prevent future leaks and protect users’ data.
In conclusion, Twitter is currently going through yet another turbulent incident, with its source code being leaked online. The company has resorted to legal action to remove the code from Github and investigate those linked to the breach. Twitter’s increasingly unstable functionality, coupled with the rise in white nationalist content and corporate mismanagement, might deter advertisers and users, who are worried about data sovereignty threats on the social media platform.
