Would you like to send money to someone on Twitter straight from the app? Twitter thought giving an option for it would be of great help and came up with its latest feature, Tip Jar. The feature will be exclusive for now and available only for certain creators, journalists, experts, and non-profit organizations.
If you want to tip’ a journalist for writing a piece you enjoyed, Twitter lets you do it by clicking on the new small icon on the person’s profile. The feature is currently available only on the app.
It sounds great until it isn’t. Wonder what we mean?
Twitter uses PayPal, the CashApp, Venmo, etc., to allow monetary transactions through the app. While this is not an issue, data privacy is, and that’s where Twitter seems to have left crucial aspects.
Racheal Tobac, a CEO and security researcher, has found that if you use PayPal to ‘tip’ someone, your home address will be shared with the person. Akshan Soltani, a former FTC chief tech, has noticed that your email id will be revealed if you use Pay Pal even though you didn’t make a transaction through Tip Jar.
This is a major cause of concern for people who value their privacy on social media,. Kayvon Beykpour, the product lead at Twitter, called it a ‘good catch’ and said they cannot control how PayPal handles information, but they’ll make a few changes to the information about Tip Jar.
PayPal clarified that Twitter chose the ‘good & services’ option for money transfer to Tip Jar, which requires sharing information. The payment service suggested users toggle to the ‘friends & family’ option to protect privacy.
This aside, there are concerns about how ‘tipping’ journalists would work in the long run. Users have expressed doubts over ethical practices, which are hard to find as it is.
It would be interesting to see how Twitter will iron out the wrinkles and make Tip Jar a successful feature.
