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On Thursday, Twitter, a popular social media website, advised all their followers to change passwords after the company's discovery of a "bug," reports The Hill.

An Overview of the Twitter "Bug"

In layman's terms, the Twitter "bug" turned out to be a glitch which revealed users' passwords in Twitter's company internal logs. Normally, Twitter uses a bcrypt function which conceals passwords by displaying them as ciphers or codes. However, the aforementioned glitch caused the display of users' passwords prior to the completion of the bcrypt. There are over 330 million individuals who use Twitter. Therefore, the company sent out notifications to all users, advising them to switch passwords. Twitter released the hereinafter statement: "We recently identified a bug that stored passwords unmasked in an internal log. Out of an abundance of caution, we ask that you consider changing your password on all services where you’ve used this password. We found this error ourselves, removed the passwords, and are implementing plans to prevent this bug from happening again." Finally, the social media site apologized for the glitch: "We are very sorry this happened. We recognize and appreciate the trust you place in us and are committed to earning that trust every day."

Social Media Scandals and Controversies

News of the Twitter "bug comes after a high profile Facebook scandal. Firstly, people around the world learned that the data of over 87 million users was improperly shared. Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm, turned out to be responsible for the improper distribution of information and eventually filed for bankruptcy as a result. News of the scandal spread like wildfire; Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg eventually testified before Congress over the mishandling of data. Many points came up during his testimony, including censorship. Some Americans have expressed concerns that Facebook intentionally censors conservative viewpoints and opinions. These concerns are furthermore fueled by Facebook's ties to highly liberal entities, such as Silicon Valley. Zuckerburg eventually apologized to Congress over Facebook's mismanagement of such critical data. The multiple social media scandals have engendered some conversations, to say the least. Some people are even questioning whether or not the platforms are as safe as advertised. Others have cautioned users against sharing too much information about themselves online. At this time, there is no proven connection between the Facebook scandal and Twitter glitch.