Twitter To Launch Tor Service For Users; Aims For Personal And Secure Tweeting

Twitter is creating a Tor onion service, which will optimize the site for the privacy-protecting and censorship-avoiding network. Alec Muffett, a software programmer, shared the news on Twitter, calling it “probably the most significant and long-awaited tweet I’ve ever composed.” Tor has also been added to Twitter’s list of supported browsers.

Twitter’s Tor Service Access Path

When using Tor Browser or a similar tool, you can access Twitter’s onion service at https://twitter3e4tixl4xyajtrzo62zg5vztmjuricljdp2c5kshju4avyoid.onion. While you could already use Tor to view Twitter’s regular website, the newly unveiled version adds further levels of security to the already anonymous browsing experience and is tailored to the network.

“It’s a promise from the platform to treat people who use Tor fairly,” Muffett said in a Twitter direct message to The Verge. “Creating an onion address is a practical move that proves that the platform is expressly catering to Tor users’ demands,” he added.

Hidden services or “dark web” services are terms used to describe onion services, but the latter term usually refers to clearly illicit sites like the Silk Road drug market. The DuckDuckGo search engine, as well as news outlets including The New York Times, the BBC, and ProPublica, all have Tor-specific versions. Tor is also used by tools like SecureDrop to accept secure files and content.

Since 2014, Muffett, who works with businesses to deploy onion sites, has been considering the idea of a Tor-friendly Twitter. That’s when Facebook established its own hidden service, ostensibly to address major operational concerns for Tor users who were frequently mistakenly identified as botnets. In 2016, Facebook said that a million people per month used Tor to access the normal site or onion service.

How Does Tor Work For Twitter?

Tor encrypts web data and routes it through a number of servers to potentially hide identification information about the users. It’s a popular technique to access censored websites, and it’s become even more essential since Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February, which prompted a Russian crackdown on Twitter, Facebook, and alternative media services.

Some broadband providers started filtering Tor in December 2021, but the Tor Project told Vice today that the extent of censorship has fluctuated, and Russian users can still connect via a Tor bridge.

However, Twitter’s onion service has been under development for much longer and offers benefits beyond simply accessing a prohibited network. It requires individuals to utilize Tor’s network because it doesn’t operate with regular browsers and protects them from some of the security dangers that standard web addresses bring.

Having a separate access path also makes it easier for platforms like Facebook and Twitter to monitor criminal activity that uses Tor without restricting or diminishing service for legitimate users. For instance, automated scraping or site attacks. Even if the majority of users don’t use Tor to access Twitter, it’s a step forward for those who do and a step toward wider acceptance of the system.

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Story first published: Wednesday, March 9, 2022, 16:17 [IST]