Looking to improve your safety on Twitter in 2024?

Twitter, now known as X, is an amazing platform connecting the world. This is where we run to get the latest news, trending hashtags, hot gossip, and a lot more information. Actually, as of earlier in the year, there were about 429 million X users worldwide. But with such a wide community and quick access to information, caution is needful.

You will totally agree that data has become an integral part of our day-to-day lives. Social media platforms are now a prime target for data sourcing, considering that the world collectively spends 11.5 billion hours on them daily. From marketers to researchers, business owners, data brokers, advertising agencies, and, unfortunately, even scammers, all these people come to pull data from platforms like Twitter.

Most of these data-collecting activities raise privacy concerns because some are done without your consent. To keep your personal information safe, here are some actionable tips to boost privacy on Twitter in 2024.

Can ad blockers help?

In order to send you ads that are relevant to you, Twitter tracks your activities, including your tweets, hashtags, likes, accounts you follow, and your search history - the list is endless. Ad blockers can really help block ads on Twitter and prevent advertisers from tracking your behavior across the internet.

Though the ads might not all go away, the ad blockers help minimize their impact, especially by blocking trackers and cookies embedded in the ads. Actually, by mid-2023, there were about 912 million ad blocker users globally, showing that people are minding their privacy more lately.

However, it is worth noting that ad blockers work better on web browsers than mobile apps. This is because you cannot stop Twitter from tracking activities like tweets, likes, and searches on their platform. So, you might want to consider using Twitter via a browser that has ad blockers rather than the mobile app. That way, you have somewhat more control over your privacy. Also, disable personalized ads in your settings to reduce the tracking and the use of your personal data for profiling.

Adjust your privacy settings

Of course, when we talk about privacy enhancement, we deal with what we can control. A simple step like changing your account from public to private could go a long way. You just need to go to 'Privacy and Safety' on your settings, then under Audience and Tagging, toggle on the Protect your Tweets option. And that's it; you can have only the followers you’ve approved seeing your posts. Interestingly, research in 2022 shows that 83% of supposed private account holders on Twitter actually had public accounts.

As you change your account to private, you can also choose to turn off Photo tagging or set it to 'Only people you follow' under the same menu. Keeping your location private is also key in maintaining privacy so that you can disable location data on your tweets as well.

Keep your account safe

It may sound cliché, but using a strong and unique password can act as your first line of defense from unauthorized access. Gone are the days when your password was either your name or birthday- the sort of obvious guesses that could easily put your Twitter account at stake. Imagine 74% of data breaches in 2023 were caused by human error, such as weak or stolen passwords.

To add an extra layer of protection, utilize the two-factor authentication (2FA) feature. Go to settings, navigate to two-factor authentication under security, and choose between text message, authentication app, or security key. Did you know that multi-factor authentication can stop up to 96% of bulk phishing attacks and up to 76% of targeted attacks?

Needless to say, monitor your login activity by regularly checking your account login history for suspicious activity. If you find any, log out the device immediately and report it to Twitter.

Control your data sharing

You would be surprised at the amount of data Twitter collects based on your activities on the platform and other apps connected to your account just to offer you a personalized experience. It's a great end result, to be sure, but it might turn some heads because of privacy concerns. Actually, one report in 2023 stated that 70% of internet users were worried about how other people used their information.

Luckily, there are ways in which you can manage what is shared, and disabling data sharing with Twitter’s business partners is one of them. Go to your settings and toggle off that option to reduce unnecessary exposure of your personal info, even though it will mean that the ads and insights you’ll get from then on will be more generic than personal.

Over time, you may have connected your Twitter account to third-party apps you no longer use. What you may not know is that those apps still have access to your data and are probably collecting it. To fix this, proceed to your settings and find Apps and Sessions under Security and Account Access, then revoke access for the apps you are not using.