Case Studies: Twitter

Twitter: In January 2011, Twitter was widely applauded for its "remarkable display of backbone" in standing up for its users’ privacy and free speech rights by challenging the secrecy of a Department of Justice demand. The DoJ, seeking information about Twitter users who were thought to be affiliated with WikiLeaks, obtained a court order requiring Twitter to turn over those users’ records—including contact and credit card information and the identities of other individuals who communicated with those users. In addition, the court issued a “gag order” prohibiting Twitter from telling these users about the demand. However, Twitter is credited for exceeding its legal obligations by standing by its promise to notify users of a demand whenever legally possible, and it is widely believed that Twitter was the "only company to challenge the secret WikiLeaks order" and that its actions led the judge to reverse her decision and unseal the secret order, allowing Twitter to notify its users and enable them to challenge the demand.

Twitter: In 2010 Twitter came out on top for safeguarding free speech when Pennsylvania prosecutors subpoenaed the company seeking identifying information on two Twitter users. The anonymous users were frequent critics of Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett, who was also running for governor of the state. Rather than comply immediately, Twitter first notified the users to give them a chance to object. The demand was withdrawn after the incident received substantial press coverage and the ACLU intervened. Twitter emerged as one of the heroes of the story for giving its users an opportunity to defend their anonymity.

Twitter: In 2009, intruders exploited a Twitter security flaw in order to change users’ passwords, access nonpublic account information, and send unauthorized tweets from accounts. Major news outlets widely publicized Twitter’s security breaches and the Federal Trade Commission investigated the social network for failing “to provide reasonable and appropriate security.” It took a year for Twitter to settle the complaint, under which it agreed to maintain a comprehensive information security program that is regularly reviewed by an independent auditor.

Twitter: "Microblogging" site Twitter was dragged into drama in 2008 because of its overbroad terms of service. By including a clause that "users must not…harass…or intimidate other Twitter users," it was caught in the middle when two users were in conflict. Rather than taking sides, Twitter did the right thing and modified its terms of service.

Of course, it could have avoided the problem if it had finely tuned its terms of service in the beginning to avoid overbroad language such as "harass" or "intimidate."