About personalization based on your inferred identity

How does Twitter determine what identity information is associated with my account or device?

When you log in to Twitter on a browser or device, we associate that browser or device with your Twitter account. Whether or not you are logged in to Twitter, we may also receive information about your browsers or devices when, for example, that information is shared by a partner; you visit twitter.com; you visit third-party websites that integrate Twitter content; or you visit a Twitter advertiser’s website or mobile application. We may use this information, most commonly IP addresses and the time at which the information was received, to infer that certain browsers or devices are associated with one another or with your account. 

When you provide other information to Twitter, including an email address, we associate that information with your Twitter account. We may use this information in order to infer other information about your identity, for example by associating your account with hashes of email addresses that share common components with the email address you have provided to Twitter.

To learn more about the browsers, devices, and other information about your identity we use to operate and personalize your experience for your Twitter account, check out Your Twitter Data while logged in. To learn more about other browsers, devices, and other information about your identity we use to operate and personalize your experience on the device or browser you are currently using, visit Your Twitter Data while logged out.

What does ‘Personalization based on your inferred identity’ mean?

By better understanding how different browsers and devices are related, we can use information from one browser or device to help personalize the Twitter experience on another. For example, if you commonly use Twitter for Android around the same time and from the same network where you browse sports websites with embedded Tweets on a computer, we may infer that your Android device and laptop are related and later suggest sports-related Tweets and serve sports-related advertising on your Android device. We may also infer other information about your identity to help personalize your Twitter experience. For example, if the email address associated with your account shares components with another email address, such as a shared first name, last name, or initials, we may infer that your account is associated with hashes of other email addresses containing those components and later match advertisements to you from advertisers that were trying to reach email addresses containing those components. 

What privacy choices do I have?

We are committed to providing you meaningful privacy choices. You can control whether we operate and personalize your experience based on browsers or devices other than the ones you use to log in to Twitter (or if you’re logged out, browsers or devices other than the one you’re currently using), or email addresses and phone numbers similar to those linked to your Twitter account. You can do this by visiting your Personalization and data settings and adjusting the Personalize based on your inferred identity setting.