The recent Twitter hacking scandal has put tech companies on high alert, evidenced most recently by Google changing how it displays Twitter posts in its search results. The decision to change the search result layout is an attempt to slow down traffic to the Bitcoin address to which people were directed by the hackers. It's a surprising move, considering Google doesn't make a habit out of these kinds of format changes.
Traditionally, searching Google for information that resides on Twitter (such as searching for a celebrity's Twitter account) would produce a carousel of the account's posts at the top of the search results screen. Users could scroll through the tweets straight from Google without having to open Twitter. This was clearly some form of automated, algorithm-driven process because it would often show tweets that were deleted for a while after the poster made that choice.
That's likely why Google has turned off the Twitter carousel entirely. Even hours after the tweets had been deleted and Twitter had prevented verified accounts from posting temporarily, Google search results still showed the fake tweets in the carousel, on the day of the attack. By shutting the feature off, the company can be sure it's not helping send people to the Bitcoin address used in the scam. The website Search Engine Roundtable reports that Google has issued a statement saying the change is temporary, and that the feature could make a return after a "review".
Companies May Distance Themselves from Twitter
This is just one example of an outside company trying to distance itself from the Twitter hack. Google hasn't said much about the incident itself but, now that government agencies and officials are starting to get involved in the investigation into how this happened, it may not be long before businesses start to distrust Twitter. The social media platform earns most of its revenue through ads like most of its peers but, with even large-scale corporations like Apple being caught in the hack, a breach on this level could scare away business partners.
Even the manner in which Google made the search results format change – making the choice quickly and without initial public comment – indicates confusion as to how to deal with the situation. A lot may be riding on whether these investigations uncover the hackers gained access to non-public information on these accounts, such as passwords, credit cards, email addresses, and direct message logs.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable