![How Despots Use Twitter to Hunt Dissidents](/summary-img/28402-J67TV2VK.jpg?h=M&b=0)
How Despots Use Twitter to Hunt Dissidents
Twitter’s 'firehose' of a half billion tweets a day is incredibly valuable – and just as dangerous.
Recommendation
Reporters Benjamin Elgin and Peter Robison explain how shady government agencies – as in an Orwellian nightmare – can monitor outspoken citizens on Twitter and find out where they live. The “Firehose” is the profitable part of Twitter, capturing details from users’ profiles and devices, which the company packages for sale to social media monitoring companies. Those companies then sell the data to advertisers, governments and law enforcement agencies. The two authors expose Twitter’s leadership as dangerously naive and idealistic about free speech. getAbstract recommends this exposé to social media users everywhere.
Summary
About the Authors
Benjamin Elgin is an investigative reporter at Businessweek and Bloomberg News. Peter Robison is a Seattle bureau chief and reporter for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, and @Business.
Comment on this summary or Start Discussion