WhatsApp Responds to Twitter Link Preview Issue, Fix Released

WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart noted that the issue was with Twitter’s API that enables these previews.

By Tasneem Akolawala | Updated: 3 June 2020 11:08 IST

WhatsApp Responds to Twitter Link Preview Issue, Fix Released

Twitter has already fixed the issue with its API

Highlights

Twitter link previews were not working on WhatsApp for a short while
Will Cathcart noted that the issue was with a Twitter API
Twitter has fixed this issue and previews are working once again

WhatsApp users on Tuesday took to Twitter to voice their concerns about a weird issue that prevented the previews for Twitter links from showing up in chats. The company responded to concern blaming technical problems on Twitter's end for the problem. Twitter has now revealed the company has fixed the issue and Twitter previews will start showing up again in WhatsApp chats.

Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp at Facebook, responded to a user complaint on Twitter for link previews not working on WhatsApp. Cathcart explained that Twitter link previews for WhatsApp was an issue from Twitter's end, and not a WhatsApp glitch.

“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.

Twitter Product Manager Laura Burkhauser was soon to respond to the complaints, and has confirmed that the issue has been fixed and users should be able to see Twitter link previews in WhatsApp once again. Link previews offer a slight summary of the content shared in the form of an expanded card when a Twitter link is shared on WhatsApp. Gadgets 360 can confirm that Twitter link previews are working once again on WhatsApp at the time of writing.

This issue should now be fixed. Thank you for your patience!
— Laura Burkhauser (@burkenstocks) June 2, 2020

While this issue has been fixed, a new WhatsApp scam has emerged recently in which an account that pretends as an official communication source for WhatsApp technical team asks users to share their verification code. However, the team at WhatsApp only uses social media channels like Twitter and its official blog to make public announcements. This fake account uses a WhatsApp logo as its profile picture to convince users. The verification code is normally used to activate an account on a different device, and this scam could enable bad actors to get access to WhatsApp accounts if uninformed users fall for it. It is important to note that the Facebook-owned company doesn't ask users to provide any of their data, including verification codes.

In 2020, will WhatsApp get the killer feature that every Indian is waiting for? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

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