Some Japanese Twitter users started complaining on May 14th that Twitter recommends their family, colleagues and their own secret sub-accounts to them on “Who to follow” field on the sidebar. (examples picked up on a Togetter page [J])
They wrote that they hide their Twitter existence from their family and colleagues, or never told anyone their sub-accounts are theirs, and concluded that Twitter find those accounts by seeing their global IP address, that means Twitter simply lists other accounts which accesses from the same IP address – home, office, school, etc.
Many Japanese people are using pseudo name and illustration icons on Twitter, and that is one reason Twitter was widely accepted and is one of the most favored country in the world. (I just posted a column on how popular Twitter in Japan on The Japan Times today.)
Reactions to this claims are spreading on Japanese Twittersphere. But more people reply that they do not see such recommendations. It is possible that Twitter tentatively introduced that “Follow others from the same IP address” feature and withdrew. But there are already tweets and blog posts explaining how to avoid this privacy leak in case if this rumor is truth, including pausing Twitter usage.
