Twitter Sued Over Direct Message Algorithm

A potential class action lawsuit filed against Twitter in California claims that the social media site’s method of automatically replacing links in Direct Messages with shortened “t.co” URLs violates user privacy. The lawsuit, which seeks $5 million in damages, says the method of scanning private user messages violates the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California’s privacy law. Plaintiffs accuse Twitter of “systematically intercepting, reading, and altering the private messages of its users without their knowledge or consent.”