Connecting to Twitter API using TLS

TLS connections are required in order to access Twitter API endpoints. Communicating over TLS preserves user privacy and security by protecting information between the user and the Twitter API as it travels across the public Internet. Connections to the Twitter API require TLS version 1.2.

Verification

Use an up-to-date root store

It's important that your application or library use a trustworthy and up-to-date root store when verifying the Twitter certificate. Where possible, using the root store provided by your operating system may be the simplest approach here. Alternatively, the Mozilla (NSS) root store is well maintained in a public and transparent manner. Curl also provides a version of this store in PEM format.

Twitter currently issues the bulk of our certs from the DigiCert High Assurance EV Root CA, but this is not true for 100% of Twitter-related certificates and may not hold true forever, so trusting only the currently-used Digicert roots may lead to issues with your app in the future.

Check CRLs and the OCSP status¶

Many applications do not check the Certificate Revocation List for returned certificates or rely on the operating system to do so. Ensure that your application or TLS library is configured to force CRL and OCSP (Online Certificate Status Protocol) verification before accepting Twitter’s certificate.

CDNs

When showing Tweets that contain media, use the media_url_https attribute for the HTTPS URLs to use when showing images. In the future, all URLs served from API endpoints will provide HTTPS paths.

Provide an indication of security status

If possible, you should show an indication of the current status between your application and Twitter. Some web browsers indicate this by offering a Lock Icon, while others indicate the current connection state with descriptive messaging.