Twitter accidentally resets tons of user passwords

Social media site Twitter has accidentally reset the passwords of a "large number" of its 140 million active users.

Twitter users received an email this morning saying users needed to change their passwords immediately. 

"Twitter believes that your account may have been compromised by a website or service not associated with Twitter," read an email many Twitter users received Thursday morning.

"We've reset your password to prevent others from accessing your account."

Millions of users thought their accounts had been hacked and it set off a panic, particularly in China, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Beijing-based analyst Patrick Chovanec posted a tweet that read: “Wow, my Twitter account just got hacked. Party Congresses are such fun.”

The newspaper reports that at least eight others, including Chinese political cartoonist Hexie Farm, also posted that they thought their accounts had been hacked.

But rest assured it was not a hack, just Twitter being a bit overly cautious. The company confirmed that it accidentally sent the email out to far more users than it meant to. 

“In this case, we unintentionally reset passwords of a larger number of accounts, beyond those that we believed to have been compromised. We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused," a company statement said. 

Even though it may have been a false alarm, NBC tech correspondent still recommends taking steps to make sure your account is safe. 

"Whether yours was one of the reset accounts or not, you should go ahead and go through the motions now. Change your password. De-authorize strange apps. Stop clicking on shady links," writes Rosa Golijan.