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An anonymous person leaked Twitter’s source code on GitHub


Part of Twitter’s source code was leaked on code hosting platform GitHub, but it was taken down shortly after. Source code is the basic code framework on which a digital product is built. Apart from exposing a company’s intellectual property, source code leaks also expose its vulnerabilities and pose a serious threat to sensitive user data. In short, it is one of the most aggressive types of cyber attacks that a company can suffer. In the case of Twitter, the leaked code reportedly contains details of security vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers if not patched in time.


According to Aetna and quoted from slasherSoon after Twitter administrators learned of the leak, the company submitted a DMCA takedown request to GitHub, and the content has since been taken down. Twitter appealed to the US District Court for the Northern District of California and asked GitHub to take action. According to the New York Times, Twitter management suspects an employee who left the company in 2022.

 


Twitter’s open source dreams in limbo

This part of the source code was leaked by someone with the GitHub profile FreeSpeechEnthusiast, which appears to be an indirect mockery of Musk’s repeated claims that “free speech is absolute.” However, it is unclear whether the alleged employee was among the thousands who were fired soon after Musk became the owner and CEO of Twitter. However, Musk’s indirect leadership style, which demands a hard-working spirit, has not been well received by current and former employees. So far, there have been no reports of exploitation of this source code by malicious actors.


Interestingly, Musk recently promised that Twitter will open source part of its code that supports the content recommendation algorithm. The idea behind this move is to increase transparency so that users can learn more about how Twitter works. However, Musk may backtrack on Twitter’s open-source efforts. A ZDNet report, citing unnamed sources, says Musk has fired employees overseeing Twitter’s planned migration to a more open-source operational approach.

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