In December 2022, a notable incident involving data privacy and social media governance unfolded when a programmer focused on privacy and information freedom found himself banned from Twitter. Micah Lee learned of his ban at around 5 p.m. on a Thursday after posting a link to @Elonjets, a Mastodon account that tracked the movements of Elon Musk’s private jet—a piece of information that Musk later labeled “doxing,” despite the data being publicly accessible.
Upon receiving the ban notification, Lee underwent a brief period of mourning for his Twitter account, which he had cultivated over many years and amassed over 50,000 followers. However, this sentiment quickly shifted to relief as he recognized his exit from a platform he believed was spiraling into moral ambiguity. Since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter two months prior, the platform had reinstated several previously banned far-right and neo-Nazi accounts under the guise of free speech, all while silencing users on the left. For Lee, being banned for a tweet that contradicted Musk’s subjective standards felt like an appropriate end to his tenure on the platform.
Lee ultimately chose not to return to Twitter, despite the company’s offer to restore his account contingent on deleting the controversial tweet. Instead, he remained off the platform for eight months, finally deleting the post solely to erase his entire account history before logging off permanently. After the platform’s rebranding to X, he briefly returned to promote his published works, but has since distanced himself, citing improved mental health following his departure.
Recognizing a common need for digital self-determination, Lee has now developed a tool intended to facilitate similar liberation for others. On this occasion, he launched Cyd, an acronym for “Claw Back Your Data.” This desktop application is engineered to empower users by allowing them to archive their content on X, selectively trim their presence, or completely remove their history. The application’s free version enables users to download their recent posts, while a premium subscription offers enhanced functionalities, including refined deletion based on specific criteria like date, engagement levels, and keywords.
While currently tailored to management of X accounts, Lee has aspirations to expand Cyd’s capabilities to encompass other major platforms, including Facebook and Reddit. He emphasizes a significant concern: a small cadre of billionaires controls the platforms where users store vast amounts of personal data. Through these tools, Lee aims to restore some level of control to everyday users, who often feel at the mercy of these tech magnates.
This incident and the subsequent introduction of Cyd raise fundamental questions about data privacy in the digital age. Attack vectors and tactics reminiscent of those in the MITRE ATT&CK framework potentially underpin concerns about data misuse. Tactics such as initial access, involving unauthorized retrieval of data from online accounts, along with persistence strategies, which aim to maintain access over time, are pertinent to this discourse. Lee’s initiative resonates with a growing demand for frameworks that empower users to mitigate risks associated with oversight and control exercised by large corporations in the tech space.
As data breaches and cyber vulnerabilities continue to rise, having solutions like Cyd could contribute to a more robust defense framework for users seeking to maintain their digital privacy.
