I take privacy very seriously. After all, I started Twit Cleaner to get rid of spammers & other dodgy people!

Here's the exact information Twit Cleaner stores about you and why:

  • A cookie (a small text file on your computer) - which contains your Twitter OAuth info, and some temporary information when you're logged in (eg, Wordpress garbage, if you access the blog). Without this, Twit Cleaner pretty much breaks.

    The Twitter OAuth information proves that you are who you say you are, but also stops other people from pretending to be you, & seeing your information.

  • Here at Twit Cleaner HQ, we have your username (obviously) and OAuth token & secret (two strings of gibberish that Twitter gives us when you give us access to your account). This allows us to both read and write to your Twitter account.

    The code here intentionally never goes anywhere near your DMs (Twitter personal messages). Although analysing them would help us improve the quality of the app, they're personal, so off limits, even to our automated processes.

Now, this is very important, & applies to any Twitter app you give permission to - you can stop this access at any time, by going to your Twitter Applications page and clicking Revoke Access. This shut us (or anyone else) out completely & instantly. If we try to do anything, Twitter just spews back errors at us ("Go Away! What the hell do you think you're doing!" etc)

Why do we need access to your account?
  1. To send a small tweet about Twit Cleaner out on your behalf (only IF you choose it). This is 100% optional, of course.

  2. To have your account follow @TwitCleaner. We do this so we can DM you when your report is ready. Also so you can DM me if you have any problems or need help. We don't have your email address (and can't get it, even with OAuth access), so this is the simplest way to let you know (particularly since some reports can take hours to run). Of course, once you receive that DM, you're very, very welcome to unfollow @TwitCleaner. Totally your choice.

  3. To allow us to give you a much better report (particularly if you have a protected account). For example, we automatically remove from the report anyone you've talked to recently (or has talked to you). We do this because (obviously) if you're talking to someone, you're not going to want to unfollow them, right? So, best to leave them off altogether.

  4. To follow, unfollow or block anyone you ask us to.


These are the ONLY things we use Twitter access to your account for.

Of course, if you have any questions about this policy or suggestions for how I can improve it, I (Si Dawson) would love to hear from you here, or via DM @TwitCleaner.