US spies could be tracking you on Twitter

The US department of homeland security reportedly makes fake Twitter and Facebook profiles in a bid to track down people who use "sensitive" words.

The US department of homeland security reportedly makes fake Twitter and Facebook profiles in a bid to track down people who use 'sensitive' words.

If anyone uses a word or phrase from the department's list, American spies might read the posts, investigate the online account and even attempt to identify the person from it, the Daily Mail reported.

Some words which reportedly attract attention are outbreak, drill, strain, illegal immigrant, virus, recovery, deaths, collapse and trojan, according to a report filed by a private group - the Electronic Privacy Information Centre.

It was not clear how this information was being used.

The group said the US government has used scans of social media earlier to analyse specific events - such as the 2010 BP oil spill.