Twitter fixes issue with Tweets shared via WhatsApp amid rumours

Twitter has resolved an API issue that occurred on Tuesday, which saw links shared on WhatsApp not rendered correctly.

In what appeared to be a glitch, WhatsApp stopped displaying the preview function when a user shares a Tweet’s URL within a chat.

Link previews offer a brief summary of the content shared in the form of an expanded card when a Twitter link is shared on WhatsApp.

WhatsApp users who experienced problems sharing Tweets via the platform took to Twitter to voice their concerns.

In a bid to parse what might have been behind the interruption, one tweet said:

Another registered their concern alongside evidence of others who were experiencing the same problem.

That tweet then prompted responses from both WhatsApp and Twitter.

Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp at Facebook, answered the user’s complaint in the same thread, offering an explanation for why Twitter link previews on WhatsApp were not working.

“To protect the privacy of your messages, we secure links people send with end-to-end encryption. For links to tweets we rely on Twitter’s API to display previews, and it appears there is a technical issue with that,” Cathcart tweeted.

Laura Burkhauser, Twitter’s Senior Product Manager, also swiftly replied and would then confirm that the issue was resolved.

Amid the protests that have broken out across the US, social media has once again become an important tool for people sharing information on what occurs on the ground.

Given the role of messaging services like WhatsApp in sharing news with large groups, a technical lapse like the one experienced on Twitter was a cause for concern.

There’s been a worrying trend of technical difficulties that have surfaced recently across social media platforms.

Twitter has also seen challenges arise with its Trends listings.

Meanwhile, Instagram has faced technical problems with the use of #BlackLivesMatter, triggering anti-spam filters that limited posts related to the hashtag.

TikTok experienced recent backlash after a viral tweet claimed that the platform had “blocked the #BlackLivesMatter tag and every single tag related to George Floyd,” effectively accusing TikTok of erasing socially-charged conversations.

Some decided to call it out for racism:

With the acceleration of activity around hashtags, along with spammers attempting to hijack hashtags, it appears that social media companies will continue to face a myriad of technical challenges in increasingly socially-charged times.