Twitter is introducing a Tor onion service version of its site, optimizing it for the privacy-protecting and censorship-eluding network. Alec Muffett, a software engineer, shared the news on Twitter today, calling it « probably the most significant and long-awaited tweet that I’ve ever composed. » Tor has also been added to Twitter’s list of supported browsers.
While using Tor Browser or a similar tool, you can access Twitter’s onion service at https://twitter3e4tixl4xyajtrzo62zg5vztmjuricljdp2c5kshju4avyoid.onion. While Tor can already be used to visit Twitter’s regular website, the newly released version adds further levels of security to the existing anonymized surfing experience and is developed expressly for the network.
« It’s a platform commitment to dealing with people who use Tor in an equitable manner, » Muffett told The Verge via Twitter direct message. « Creating an onion address is a practical step that illustrates that the platform clearly caters to the demands of Tor users. »
Onion services are sometimes known as « hidden services » or « dark web » services, however the latter term usually refers to clearly illicit sites such as the Silk Road drug market. Tor-specific versions are available from a variety of websites, including the DuckDuckGo search engine and news agencies such as The New York Times, BBC, and ProPublica. Tor is also used by tools like SecureDrop, which The Verge and other sites utilize to accept secure content.
Muffett, who works with businesses to install onion sites, tweeted that he and his colleagues had been discussing the prospect of a Tor-friendly Twitter since 2014. That’s when Facebook established its own hidden service, aiming to address major operational concerns for Tor users, who were frequently mistakenly labeled as botnets. In 2016, Facebook stated that a million users per month accessed the normal site or onion service using Tor.
Tor encrypts web traffic and sends it via a network of servers to conceal user identifying information. It’s a popular technique to access censored websites, and it’s become especially crucial since Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine, which prompted a Russian crackdown on Twitter, Facebook, and independent news services. Some internet service providers began censoring Tor in December 2021, but the Tor Project informed Vice today that the extent of blocking has varied, and Russian users can still access via a Tor bridge.
Twitter’s onion service, on the other hand, has been in the works for much longer and offers benefits that go beyond simply accessing a prohibited network. Because it does not operate with conventional browsers, it encourages individuals to utilize Tor’s network, and it guards against some of the security dangers brought by standard web addresses. « If you run Tor Browser and click [or] type in exactly the correct onion address, you are guaranteed to be connected to what you want — or not at all, » Muffett continues.
Having a unique access path also allows companies like Facebook and Twitter to more easily monitor criminal activity that uses Tor (such as automated scraping or site attacks) without restricting or diminishing service for legitimate users. Even if most people don’t use Tor to access Twitter, this is a step forward for those who do — and a step toward wider general support for the system.
