Twitter Adds ‘Tip Jar’ Feature That Will Allow Users Get Paid For Good Tweeting

After security expert Rachel Tobac highlighted the issue, Twitter product lead Kayvon Beykpour thanked her for the “good catch” – but said Twitter could not control how PayPal handled that information.

Instead, Twitter said it was updating the information around the tip jar to make clear that some details might be shared.

PayPal, meanwhile, said the issue arose because the Twitter tip jar was using its “goods and services” payment option – which shares details for shipping those goods. It said people can toggle to the “friends and family” option during payment to avoid the issue.

The tip jar function also has support for Bandcamp – widely used by musicians – and Patreon, used by all sorts of independent digital creators such as YouTubers and podcasters.

Twitter says the addition was inspired by people who added payment links or Patreon ads in replies to viral tweets.

It said more people would be able to add the function to their profile “soon”.

But there are some concerns about the way the function will be used.

Journalists, in particular, are often banned from accepting gifts – and it’s not clear how “tips” will be treated by news organisations.

“Seems like Twitter’s tip jar feature is going to raise some issues for newsrooms,” tweeted Ryan Lizza, Politico’s Washington correspondent.