Twitter’s Fleets expansion marred by performance, privacy Issues

Twitter said it has slowed down the rollout of 24-hour disappearing ‘Fleets’.

Twitter is slowing down the rollout of Fleets to fix some performance and stability problems. (Twitter)

Twitter Inc. is slowing the rollout of Fleets, its Snapchat-like tool for posting disappearing stories, because of “performance and stability problems” that were hurting functionality.

The San Francisco-based company announced Tuesday that it was expanding Fleets globally on its social network, but on Wednesday said that users who don't have the feature may not get it for a “few more days.”

We're slowing down the rollout of Fleets to fix some performance and stability problems. If you don't have the feature yet, you may not get it for a few more days.

We love that so many people are using Fleets and want to ensure we're providing the best experience for everyone.

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 19, 2020

“We love that so many people are using Fleets and want to ensure we're providing the best experience for everyone,” the company tweeted from a support account.

Twitter has tested the new product, which lets people share photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours, in a number of countries since March. But Fleets also has privacy flaws.

some of you hating...

but we see you Fleeting 🧐

— Twitter (@Twitter) November 17, 2020

The feature allows people to tag others on the service who have previously blocked them, which a Twitter spokeswoman said the company is working to fix.

By Kurt Wagner