Twitter Quietly Locks Out Third-Party Apps

The Cookiepocalypse Hits Another Roadblock 

There has been yet another setback in Google's plan to kill off third-party cookies. A key web standards group, known as W3C, has rejected the company's Topics API proposal saying it has privacy issues. 

The Topics API is one of Google's latest privacy-focused replacements for third-party cookies, which lets advertisers target ads to web site visitors based on broad topics like "fitness" or "books," based on their browsing history on a given site over a three-week period.

🚧 Another Hurdle for Google 

But now the tech giant may have to rethink its strategy. Yesterday, W3C asked Google not to go ahead with the Topics API in its current form. 

In a GitHub post, a member of W3C's Technical Architecture Group wrote:

In response, a Google spokesperson said that while it appreciated the input, it disagreed with the characterization that Topics maintains the status quo. 

Business Insider noted that it is still possible for Google to follow its own path despite the rebuke from W3C, given that web standards can take years to thrash out and Google isn't bound by them.

The W3C has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Has Twitter Killed Third-Party Apps? 

Has Elon Musk axed third-party Twitter apps? Several third-party Twitter apps aren't working right now and haven't been since last night, including: 

• Tweetbot

• Twitterrific

• Echofon

All three apps have confirmed the issues and noted that they are not sure what has triggered the glitch. Developers also noted they haven’t heard back from the company about what’s going on.

🤔 Sus? Or Technical Issues? 

Tweetbot's maker told TechCrunch that the connection issues started at 10:30 pm last night and noted that all API requests from his app were failing. 

Meanwhile, Twitter's developers' forum shows numerous app developers noting that their apps have been listed as "suspended" or showing invalid authentication credentials.

Echofon tweeted this morning that it was working to resolve its issues and that "Twitter has not yet replied."

It's worth noting that not all third-party clients appear to be broken. Some apps, like TweetDeck or Tweeten, appear to be working. 

As of right now, Twitter has yet to release any sort of statement regarding the matter.

Images: Twitter

Medium Joins Mastodon

So while Twitter continues to self-destruct, Mastodon keeps gaining steam. 

The social publishing site Medium, originally created by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, has launched a Mastodon instance at me.dm to serve as a dedicated space for its users. Basically, it will be an exclusive social networking platform for Medium users.

The company said it will open up Mastodon to its writers and readers as an additional service within its membership. The company also said it's working on a “sign-up with Medium” option that will make it easier to get started on Mastodon and to find people and topics that match your interests

Medium noted a select group of authors and publications will be invited to be early testers today, before inviting all users in the near future.

By the way, we are on Mastodon as well. You can follow the show and newsletter at mas.to/@todayindigital, and my personal account is @[email protected]

France Hits TikTok With $5M Fine

Here's your warning to not ignore that memo from your compliance people about your cookie consent banner.

France just slapped TikTok with a fine of more than $5 million for breaking rules on cookie consent. 

According to the French Data Protection regulator, TikTok was fined for two issues:

1. Not offering a 'refuse all' button 

The regulator said that while the platform's cookie banner offered a single-click option for users to accept all cookies, there was no single-click option to refuse them.

The committee found that making the refusal mechanism more complex actually discouraged users from refusing cookies and encouraged them to prefer the ease of the "accept all" button.

It concluded that this process infringed the freedom of consent of Internet users and constituted a violation of the French Data Protection Act. 

1. Users were not sufficiently informed about the purpose of cookies.

Neither in the first-level information banner nor in the choice interface accessible after clicking a link.

In response, a spokesperson for TikTok said these findings relate to recent changes it made last year, including making it easier for users to reject non-essential cookies and providing more information about certain cookies. They added that user privacy remains a top priority for TikTok.

U.S. Inflation Slows in December  

The inflation clouds may be parting. According to a new report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, inflation eased in December, giving retailers some hope.

Inflation declined to 6.5% in December. It was the smallest increase in more than a year. Excluding food and energy, inflation was less than 6%, per the report

Retail Dive noted that the news was welcome for retailers, who have seen consumers become more frugal with discretionary purchases. The results, however, indicate a 14% rise compared to 2020, according to Global Data. 

GlobalData also found that in December, the majority of consumers bought fewer non-food items due to squeezed budgets. While the report indicated that the number of consumers looking for bargains and cheaper alternatives rose sharply. 

Image: Pexels