Friend.tech Disputes Data Leak Claims Amidst User Data Controversy

August 23, 2023

In a recent twist, the team behind the viral decentralized social media platform friend.tech has taken a firm stance against claims of a data leak affecting over 100,000 users. Initially published by The Block, the report alleged that personal information had been “leaked,” originating from data shared by Banteg, a pseudonymous developer affiliated with Yearn Finance. However, the friend.tech team has clarified that the information in question was sourced by scraping its public API, highlighting an important distinction.

Drawing a parallel, the official friend.tech account likened this situation to accusing someone of hacking based on publicly available content, akin to perusing a public Twitter feed. This perspective received additional validation from contributors of X (formerly known as Twitter) Community Notes, who reinforced that the underlying data was publicly accessible. The community note further explained that by exploring a block explorer, one could deduce details like wallet allocations and corresponding transactions.

The controversy originated with Banteg’s publication of a repository containing scraped data from friend.tech users on GitHub. The data encompassed wallet addresses on Base, connected to corresponding Twitter usernames of over 101,000 users. In a notable statement, Banteg indicated, “101,183 people have given friend.tech access to post as them, leaked db (database) indicates.”

However, Banteg also criticized the misinterpretation of their initial disclosure, stressing the difference between data scraping and an actual data breach. Meanwhile, users of X joined in the conversation with a hint of humor, highlighting the need for accurate interpretation amidst online discussions.

The release of this data by Banteg came on the heels of findings by blockchain analytics service Spot On Chain, which unearthed certain specific sets of information accessible through friend.tech’s API that was not readily available to regular app users. Notably, this included the capability to view wallets established by particular users via the API.

Spot On Chain offered insights into the potential implications of this information availability, suggesting that it could be exploited by bots to instantly purchase shares of prominent accounts as they signed up for friend.tech. Spot On Chain noted that several bots already monitored the contract, identified influential Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), and secured shares before others could.

Despite the unfolding controversy, friend.tech has experienced substantial engagement since its beta launch on August 11. Users have participated in over 934,000 unique transactions and facilitated trades accounting for a remarkable 34,320 Ether, valued at $1,663 or $57,101,116 at current market rates.

As the dust settles around the nuances of data scraping, privacy concerns, and the intricate dynamics of the decentralized social media realm, the friend.tech case continues to provide a lens through which the evolving landscape of data accessibility and platform engagement can be examined.