Twitter Is Already Having Problems With Its Fleets Feature

Twitter rolled out its new Fleets feature this week to almost universal ridicule and now users are [...]

Twitter rolled out its new Fleets feature this week to almost universal ridicule and now users are finding all the bugs in the new setup. Now, the big problem is that Fleets can still be seen after they are supposed to disappear and people want answers. The draw of Fleets according to Twitter is that the feature would be home to shorter-form thoughts that don't deserve to live on the web for all eternity. There's one tiny problem with that line of thinking, anything posted on the Internet is basically forever. So, what to do about this current predicament? It sounds like Twitter is going back to the drawing board to find a way to make the messages actually disappear after 24 hours as advertised. The weakness in the code allowed people to access and download another user's Fleets without notifying the party getting their messages downloaded.

A Twitter spokesperson told Tech Crunch, "We're aware of a bug accessible through a technical workaround where some Fleets media URLs may be accessible after 24 hours. We are working on a fix that should be rolled out shortly."

When unveiling the feature, the tech company said this of their newest innovation:

"Fleets give you the power to use and interact with Twitter in a whole new way, right in the moment. Fleets allow you to share fleeting or transitory thoughts, and after 24 hours, they'll disappear from view," they said on their blog. "Share personal in-the-moment thoughts with your followers free of public reactions. Fleet authors can see who views their Fleets, including accounts with protected Tweets, by clicking into their Fleets and tapping on the Seen By text at the bottom."

Funny enough, Twitter has already had to go in and tweak some Fleets code before. When the app first launched, there was a way to circumnavigate blocks and see accounts that had adjusted for privacy. The company had to step in and amend a sort of read receipt feature. But, that doesn't work for these downloads yet.

"When you view someone's Fleet, the Fleet author will be able to see that you viewed it using the Seen By feature, even if your account has protected Tweets," they also mentioned. "Additionally, please note that we maintain a copy of all sent Fleets for a limited time after they expire or are deleted to be able to enforce against Fleets that are found to violate our rules. If a Fleet was found in violation, we may extend the time we maintain a copy of it to allow people an opportunity to appeal the violation if they believe it was a mistake."

Have you tried out Fleets yet? Let us know down in the comments!

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