Twitter has made a game to help users level up their privacy knowledge

12 May 2022

Twitter Data Dash, the social media platform's online game about privacy settings. Image: Twitter

The game is part of a broader push by Twitter to make its privacy policy more transparent and accessible to users.

Twitter has released an online game to try explain parts of its privacy policy to users in a more engaging way.

The game, called Twitter Data Dash, is a side-scrolling platformer where users play as a dog called Data. The player guides Data through Twitter-themed levels, such as a ‘sea of DMs’ and tackling ‘trolls’, while collecting bones that offer information about Twitter’s privacy settings.

The game, made by video game designer Momo Pixel, is part of a broader push by Twitter to make its privacy policy more transparent and accessible to its users.

“Through Twitter Data Dash, we hope to encourage more people around the world to take charge of their personal information on our service and maybe even have a little fun in the process,” Twitter said in a blogpost yesterday (11 May). “Transparency is core to our approach and we want to help you understand the information we collect, how it’s used and the controls at your disposal.

“We hope Twitter Data Dash introduces a fun and interactive way to learn about a topic that has historically been anything but,” Twitter said.

The social media platform has rewritten its privacy policy to contain less “legalese” and use more easily understood language. The redesigned privacy policy site now has three primary sections covering data collection, data use and data sharing.

The site has answers to commonly asked questions and new illustrations designed to bring the company’s “privacy policy to life”.

Twitter also shared plans to update its privacy iconography – the visual symbols that represent core settings related to security and privacy. The platform said its goal is to propose “standardised privacy icons” for privacy settings, similar to how the magnifying glass is an easily recognisable icon for search functions.

“We’ve been ideating and conducting research into privacy iconography and plan to publish our findings and ideas soon,” Twitter said.

The future of the Twitter remains uncertain as it recently entered into an agreement to be acquired by Elon Musk in a $44bn deal that will take the company private.

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Leigh Mc Gowran is a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com