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This is a "feature", not a bug. Twitter keeps asking for phone numbers all the time and then suggests you also allow others to discover your account via phone number.

So this guy merely enumerated a lot of phone numbers and found accounts of users who agreed to have their phone number publicly match their account.

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Yeah. Not long ago I thought I can finally try Twitter, but 20 minutes in (just enough time to follow a couple of people and to start getting familiar with the UI) I found UI to be totally blocked by the demand I submit my phone or else. Naturally, I figured I don't need Twitter that much.

So to call a feature nobody asked for which they went a long way to introduce a "bug"... yeah.

Same thing happened to me when I just wanted to sign up to follow some esports organizations. It says a phone number is optional during signup, then a few minutes after I create my account it becomes locked and I get an automated message saying that I'm suspected of being a bot, and the only way to unlock it is by giving them my phone number.

The worst thing about this ‘feature’ argument is how it could be slightly tweaked into a CFAA violation.

Nobody abused anything. If anyone should be sued for that, it's Twitter, not somebody who used their service exactly the way they invite you to do.

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