Twitter Shopping is a way for brands to brandish their products for the world to see. They can pin their products to their profiles so that people can see what they’re selling. If you’re interested in seeing what the company is selling, you can click through and be taken to its page. It’s a nifty way to shop around and see what your favorite brands are selling.
But Twitter thinks that its shopping feature could cause societal harm
As neat as this shopping feature is, the executives at Twitter are wary of the harm associated with it. The Verge was able to obtain a part of a memo sent to some teams within the company. It addresses some of the dangers that could arise should a bad actor want to use the shopping feature. The main issue that the memo talks about is the types of products that people might want to sell. Any company with a professional account in the US can post its products. Sure, Adidas will sell shoes and dbrand will sell cases, but Twitter is not worried about these companies. It’s worried about the company that will try to sell you illegal or harmful items. Twitter is worried about bad actors being able to post their products, and it’s also worried about them being able to share those products. Twitter offers them a platform to spread their products to a wide range of potential buyers via tweets. The memo also reveals that Twitter isn’t properly equipped to take on this threat. The company doesn’t have much in the way of tools to detect and take down violative shops. Its tools for dealing with this are pretty limited. Right now, we don’t know what the company plans on doing to help keep the shop safe. However, it’s good to know that the company is aware of the potential threat.
