If you open Twitter on the desktop right now you may get a notification that the company is updating is privacy policy.

The notification reads: We're updating our privacy policy to bring you a more personalized Twitter experience. We'll soon be making Twitter more relevant by using your visits to sites with Twitter content. And we've given you even more control over your data".

The prompt has a big "sounds good" button, and a smaller "review settings" link. The latter links directly to the "Personalization and Data" section of the Twitter settings.

Time to check your Twitter settings

It may be a good time to check those settings, and others right now. The personalization and data page on Twitter is all about advertisement and tracking.

The following options are available on the page:

Personalize ads -- You won't see fewer ads if you disable that, but the ads may be less relevant.

Personalize based on your apps -- Personalizes the experience based on apps you use on your devices.

Personalize across all your devices -- Enables personalization on all devices you sign in.

Personalize based on the places you've been -- Uses location information for personalization.

Track where you see Twitter content across the web -- May use sites you visit for personalization.

Share data through select partnerships -- If enabled, has Twitter share data "through selected partnerships".

You can use the disable all button at the top to turn them all off, or uncheck some only.

What is probably more pressing right now is that some users reported on Twitter that the company has enabled location tagging without asking.

You can verify if that is the case by going to the Safety settings on Twitter to look up the status of the Tweet location preference. If it is checked, a location is added to your tweets automatically.

I checked the preference, and it was not enabled by default on my system. Some users stated that this is being rolled out, and that it takes time to land on all user devices.

I don't really know whether that is the case or not, but you may want to check the setting just to make sure that you don't share your location with your tweets unknowingly.

You may want to go through the settings there as well, just to make sure that all are configured the way you want them to be.

Closing Words

If Twitter really turned on location tagging without user permission, that would be a big no-no and could backfire. The company did show a prompt on my device to inform me of personalization changes, but did not change the location tagging preference on the device. It is best to check the preference anyway just to be on the safe side.

Now You: Was location tagging enabled on your devices? What about the personalization settings?

Summary Article Name Time to check your Twitter settings Description If you open Twitter on the desktop right now you may get a notification that the company is updating is privacy policy. Author Martin Brinkmann Publisher Ghacks Technology News Logo

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