Twitter is launching a Tor Service for more secure tweeting

Twitter is set to inaugurate a version of its platform as a Tor onion service. The service would support optimisation of it for privacy-protection and a network that is censorship-evading. The news on came on Twitter on Tuesday, March 8, and announced by software engineer Alec Muffett. He described his tweet as possibly the most crucial and “long-awaited” that he had ever composed. The Tor network has reportedly been added to Twitter’s supported browsers page as well.

Twitter’s onion service is available at https://twitter3e4tixl4xyajtrzo62zg5vztmjuricljdp2c5kshju4avyoid.onion while using Tor Browser or a similar tool.

Twitter’s ordinary website via Tor was already accessible by users all this while. However, the new version that has launched gives it additional layers of protection to the browsing experience that is already anonymised. The  layers of protections are specifically made for the network.

This is possibly the most important and long-awaited tweet that I've ever composed.

On behalf of @Twitter, I am delighted to announce their new @TorProject onion service, at:https://t.co/Un8u0AEXeE pic.twitter.com/AgEV4ZZt3k

— Alec Muffett (@AlecMuffett) March 8, 2022

Onion services, at times, are referred to as “dark web” services or hidden services, though the former indicates explicit criminal sites such as Silk Road drug market. Many websites currently offer versions that are Tor-specific, which includes the search engine, DuckDuckGo. News outlets include ProPublica, the BBC, and The New York Times. Other sites used to use tools to receive source documents, like SecureDrop which also runs through Tor.

“It’s a commitment from the platform to dealing with people who use Tor in an equitable fashion,” Muffett specified. “Setting up an onion address is a practical step which demonstrates that the platform is providing explicitly for the needs of people who use Tor.”