Many people indicate that they prefer to pay for the service rather than to transfer their data. Some users favor the use of decentralized microblogging platforms.
The cryptocurrency community used social media to react against the changes in Twitter’s privacy policy. Last April 8th, the microblogging platform notified its users about the removal from the accounts of the option that allowed citizens to prevent their data from being shared for commercial purposes. “Your control over the information that Twitter shares with its business partners has changed,” the message stated.
After Twitter adopted that measure, there have been multiple reactions of rejection on the social networks. Among the comments, members of the cryptocurrency community have stated that they prefer to pay for the service rather than to lose their privacy. Many people said that they would pay for privacy and free advertising on Twitter. Some others would pay USD 5 per month to use Twitter without advertisements.
Zooko Wilcox, creator of the privacy-based cryptocurrency Zcash, had previously posted a tweet rejecting the Twitter notification. He told the company that he would rather pay so that it would stop sending advertisements that seek to manipulate people’s thoughts and emotions. Zooko’s comment triggered a reaction from the cryptocurrency community, which has received multiple responses.
In its notification, Twitter added that the update will help the company to continue operating as a free service. The Twitter change affects a setting through which users were able to decide whether or not to share data with Twitter’s business partners.
In the past, the setting prevented Twitter from sharing advertisements that users saw or clicked, as well as from using advertising identifiers to track their movements and the applications that they used for their phone devices. Twitter will now share that information by default and most users will have no other option to decide on this feature in the future.
Twitter stated that the measure is part of its continued “work around transparency and control.” They add that the data that they share allow them to show the effectiveness of advertising on the platform. In other words, it helps them to show that people are interacting with the advertisements for which advertisers pay. The company clarifies that it does not provide information to third parties about user names, e-mail accounts or phone numbers.
Other comments from the cryptocurrency community indicate that Twitter is not a service: “When we get something for free, it generally means that we are the product rather than the consumer.” Meanwhile, other users favor abandoning Twitter and opting for decentralized social media platforms like Hive.
The Zcash Foundation contributed in December last year to finance the development of a more decentralized messaging application, which has privacy as one of its top priorities. The project found inspiration in market research on sex workers and LGBT+ communities, who experienced censorship and malicious surveillance. The same as social media users, they required more privacy in their messaging system.
By Alexander Salazar
