Twitter fixing 'fleets' bug that showed messages after they disappeared
Your vanishing messages weren't really gone.
Twitter is still having a tough time rolling out its disappearing “fleets.” The social network confirmed to TechCrunch that it’s fixing a bug that let you see fleets after the 24-hour cutoff. If you used a set of leaked keys that allowed access to Twitter’s “firehose,” you could see and download expired fleets without letting the creator know you’d read them.
The solution ensures that fleets expire properly. A Twitter spokesperson said the fix should be “rolling out shortly.” The ephemeral posts will still reside on Twitter’s servers for up to 30 days, and it might preserve them for longer if they violate rules.
Fleets launched as a not-so-subtle rival to the Stories at rivals like Instagram and Snapchat, but it has had teething troubles over the past few days. In addition to lagging and crashes, users discovered that fleets didn’t respect block settings and opened the door to harassment. Twitter said it’s fixing these issues, but that could leave you waiting a while until fleets are truly polished.
Update (11/23): In a thread, the Twitter Support account explained a bit more about why the issue occurred (a backend system meant to delete the fleets after 24 hours failed under the load on Friday) and a few other API-related quirks.
This meant that developers could save a Fleet URL during the 24h the Fleet was active. Due to our queue backlog, that URL may have still been accessible after the Fleet expired. The queue is now caught up and we’ve updated our systems to reduce the likelihood that this reoccurs.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 23, 2020
