How to Increase your Privacy on Twitter

In one of our recent articles regarding oversharing information online, there was a brief but important nod towards the ways that social media platforms contribute to you oversharing your details. In an effort to prevent this, this article will be focusing on disabling certain features on Twitter that publicize critical information.

How to Disable Locations Tags

Exposing your location to the online world is very dangerous. Depending on where you post from, you could unintentionally hand over vital information to scoundrels. For instance, if you tweet while you’re away from home, that is an invitation to an unwanted visitor. While Twitter states that Tweet location is off by default, it’s still important to verify this for yourself. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Unfortunately, there is currently no option to disable Tweet location on desktop, but it can be done through the mobile application. In order to disable Tweet location tags on your Apple or Android device, follow these steps:

1. Tap the Tweet compose icon.

2. Press the location icon, highlighted here in yellow

3. If you have Tweet location enabled, your location should be highlighted. To disable it and remove your location, press the X in the top-left corner.

How to Remove Your Birth Date

Your date of birth is one of the most important pieces of information that should be kept private. While seeing confetti drop and balloons rise on Twitter during your birthday is certainly pleasant, the amount of harm that can be done with just this bit of information is astonishing. For example, a type of cybercriminal often referred to as a “social engineer,” could use it to pretend to be you and potentially hijack one of your accounts. While the consequences of leaving your date of birth public can be destructive, the steps to remove it are extremely easy.

To remove your birthday on either a web browser or the Twitter app, follow these steps:

1. Go to your profile, then click or tap on the Edit Profile button.

2. If you are using the Web version, click Edit next to Birth date. If you are on mobile, tap Birth date.

3. At the bottom of the screen, click Remove birth date, then confirm by clicking Remove.

4. Press Save when finished.

How to Hide Your Birth Date

If you do not want to entirely remove your date of birth, there is still a way for you hide it from certain users. To change the visibility of your birthday on Twitter through either a web browser or the mobile application, follow these steps:

1. Go to your profile, then click or tap the Edit Profile button, as shown previously.

2. Next to Birth date, click Edit. If you are on mobile, tap Birth date.

3. Change the visibility of your date of birth to Only you underneath Who sees this?

4. Press Save when finished.