Twitter's Source Code Was Leaked. What Happens Next?

Ever since Elon Musk took control of Twitter late last year, the social media platform has experienced a host of issues ranging from confusion over verification to several journalists having their accounts suspended with no advance notice. The latest high-profile issue surrounding the platform is somewhat different from its predecessors, in that the issue did not originate within Twitter. Instead, someone using the username “FreeSpeechEnthusiast” decided to share some of Twitter’s source code on the online repository GitHub.

It’s not immediately clear how many people saw the Twitter code in question. As CNBC reports, many observers of the tech sphere learned of this because GitHub makes its DMCA takedown requests a matter of public record — including Twitter’s request that they take down the code in question.

In making that request, Twitter described the code as “[p]roprietary source code for Twitter’s platform and internal tools.” And as a result of that request, the code published by FreeSpeechEnthusiast is no longer available to peruse. But questions remain about the leak of the source code — not the least of which is who might be behind it.

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As Bloomberg reports, Twitter is now searching for the person or persons responsible for the leak. This includes both an internal investigation and a request to GitHub for any identifying information that could help identify the leaker. It’s also not clear what — if anything — the original poster or anyone who saw the code might do with it. Still, this leak isn’t the highlight of Twitter’s year to date — but at least it’s not an own goal.