The Twitter Tip Jar is here, but it has some issues

Twitter started testing out its new Tip Jar a few weeks ago, and has now brought the feature in earnest to its iOS and Android apps.

Tip your waitron, with Twitter

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It’s pretty self-explanatory. You can tip your favourite accounts by navigating to their profiles, hitting the dandy new dollar-bill symbol by the username, and selecting your preferred payment option: CashApp, Patreon, Venmo, and BandCamp. Accounts can also toggle the Tip Jar feature on or off for themselves if they’d prefer not to receive donations out of the blue.

Twitter also assures users that it takes no cut for itself, utilising CashApp and co.’s external payment systems for all transactions. Everyone using the English version of the social media platform can send tips to applicable accounts, but for now a limited group made up of, “creators, journalists, experts, and nonprofits” will be able to accept them. There are plans to expand the list of languages Tip Jar is available in, as well as how many people can utilise the feature.

People have been plugging their Patreon and Paypal links for ages now, so Tip Jar is here mainly to hasten that process. However, it still has a few kinks that need working out.

Notably, co-founder and CEO of Rachel cybersecurity company SocialProof Security points out that if you tip someone using PayPal, the receiver will be able to see your address in their receipt, which can be a massive security concern. Twitter is aware of the issue, and now makes it clear in the Tip Jar prompt that certain external services may share information between tippers and recipients.

Source: The Verge