Twitter has introduced a new warning label for tweets containing
content “obtained through hacking.” News stories that are detected as based on
hacks and leaked documents show this new label. However, users have already figured
an easy way to hack a URL together and make it appear on any tweet.
For instance, if you share the URL of a story with the new label,
it will generate the warning. Unfortunately, you can easily trick Twitter into flagging
tweets with this new warning by using a specially crafted link to a genuine URL
along with the flagged one.
This trick seems to work for both Twitter’s mobile apps as
well as the desktop version. It even seems to crash the Android version if you
try to like a tweet with the warning label.
Twitter took the initiative of introducing these warning
labels after it received criticism for blocking links to New York Post stories regarding
Joe Biden’s son. The social media company immediately reversed its decision and
in place of it, introduced the new warning labels. The labels are part of
Twitter’s “hacked materials policy.”
The company has previously used warning labels for other
purposes as well, including preventing the spread of misleading information
about Covid-19 and false tweets by Trump.
