[Updated] Huawei phones in China reportedly not playing well with images downloaded from Twitter

There are new updates that have been added at the bottom of this story….

In a major development, we are seeing reports out of China that reveal users with Huawei devices aren’t able to download images from the Twitter app.

Complainants say the downloaded images are getting deleted, and the notification – which comes from Huawei System Services – says the deletion process was carried out by Twitter itself.

Here’s one such report:

If you are using #Huawei in China, you will not allowed to download images via Twitter app. I have received many reports among the Chinese Twitter users. This comes from system level of Chinese Huawei ROM, and it’s trying to slander Twitter app itself!

If you are using #Huawei in China, you will not allowed to download images via Twitter app. I have received many reports among the Chinese Twitter users. This comes from system level of Chinese Huawei ROM, and it's trying to slander Twitter app itself! pic.twitter.com/leNm6je9E3

— 哦哈哈哈哟 (@uriimaho) January 18, 2019

Note that Huawei devices in China run a different ROM compared to international models, and the problem is being reported with Chinese units.

Now, we’d like to specifically point out that there are some reports that say the problem is with the latest Twitter app version, as reverting to an older version doesn’t result in this download restriction.

Then there are some who say downloading isn’t a problem but sharing is:

So it’s difficult to say what exactly the problem is, and more importantly, whether it’s just a technical issue or something more than that. Issues between China and the US have often involved tech companies from both sides, so it will be interesting to see how this matter unfolds.

We’re keeping an active tab on the matter, and will update the story with more information as and when more newsworthy developments come to our notice. Meanwhile, if you are facing this issue or are aware of the problem, use the comments section below to share your experience with us.

Huawei has offered an official statement on the matter, clarifying that nothing notorious is going on as it’s just a technical glitch:

Huawei has recently received user reports that alleges the Twitter app automatically deletes images on Huawei devices

Having investigated the issue, Huawei has discovered that whenever users of certain devices download an image using specific builds of the Twitter app (version 7.78.0 and 7.77.0), the app will automatically create a folder of the same name as the image and promptly delete it in the background

This action triggers Huawei’s built-in image protection alert, causing the system to notify the user of the deletion. However, the images are not affected. Users may find their images at the following location: File Manager/picture/Twitter

Huawei is currently in conversation with Twitter to resolve this issue as soon as possible

Meanwhile, we also found a video proof of this issue. You can check it out here.

Follow @PiunikaWeb

PiunikaWeb is a unique initiative that mainly focuses on investigative journalism. This means we do a lot of hard work to come up with news stories that are either ‘exclusive,’ ‘breaking,’ or ‘curated’ in nature. Perhaps that’s the reason our work has been picked by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and more. Do take a tour of our website to get a feel of our work. And if you like what we do, stay connected with us on Twitter (@PiunikaWeb) and other social media channels to receive timely updates on stories we publish.