diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2885782..2059faa 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -16,4 +16,5 @@ config.yaml
 config-*.yaml
 logs/*
 local_archive/
-vk_config*.json
\ No newline at end of file
+vk_config*.json
+secrets/*
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/archivers/base_archiver.py b/archivers/base_archiver.py
index 815d31e..902f626 100644
--- a/archivers/base_archiver.py
+++ b/archivers/base_archiver.py
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ class ArchiveResult:
     screenshot: str = None
     hash: str = None
 
-
 class Archiver(ABC):
+    HASH_ALGORITHM="SHA-256" # can be overwritten by user configs
     name = "default"
     retry_regex = r"retrying at (\d+)$"
 
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@ class Archiver(ABC):
     def get_netloc(self, url):
         return urlparse(url).netloc
 
-    # generate the html page eg SM3013/twitter__minmyatnaing13_status_1499415562937503751.html
     def generate_media_page_html(self, url, urls_info: dict, object, thumbnail=None):
         """
         Generates an index.html page where each @urls_info is displayed
@@ -163,10 +162,12 @@ class Archiver(ABC):
     def get_hash(self, filename):
         with open(filename, "rb") as f:
             bytes = f.read()  # read entire file as bytes
-            # TODO: customizable hash
-            hash = hashlib.sha256(bytes)
-            # option to use SHA3_512 instead
-            # hash = hashlib.sha3_512(bytes)
+            logger.debug(f'Hash algorithm is {self.HASH_ALGORITHM}')
+
+            if self.HASH_ALGORITHM == "SHA-256": hash = hashlib.sha256(bytes)
+            elif self.HASH_ALGORITHM == "SHA3-512": hash = hashlib.sha3_512(bytes)
+            else: raise Exception(f"Unknown Hash Algorithm of {self.HASH_ALGORITHM}")
+
         return hash.hexdigest()
 
     def get_screenshot(self, url):
diff --git a/archivers/twitter_api_archiver.py b/archivers/twitter_api_archiver.py
index ef2bf40..6aa1742 100644
--- a/archivers/twitter_api_archiver.py
+++ b/archivers/twitter_api_archiver.py
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ class TwitterApiArchiver(TwitterArchiver):
 
             for u in urls:
                 if u is None:
-                    logger.error(f"Should not have gotten None url for {tweet.includes.media=}")
+                    logger.debug(f"Should not have gotten None url for {tweet.includes.media=} so going to download_alternative in twitter_archiver")
                     return self.download_alternative(url, tweet_id)
         logger.debug(f"found {urls=}")
 
diff --git a/archivers/twitter_archiver.py b/archivers/twitter_archiver.py
index 1c1b173..8f646fd 100644
--- a/archivers/twitter_archiver.py
+++ b/archivers/twitter_archiver.py
@@ -5,12 +5,12 @@ from snscrape.modules.twitter import TwitterTweetScraper, Video, Gif, Photo
 
 from .base_archiver import Archiver, ArchiveResult
 
-
 class TwitterArchiver(Archiver):
     """
     This Twitter Archiver uses unofficial scraping methods, and it works as 
     an alternative to TwitterApiArchiver when no API credentials are provided.
     """
+
     name = "twitter"
     link_pattern = re.compile(r"twitter.com\/(?:\#!\/)?(\w+)\/status(?:es)?\/(\d+)")
 
diff --git a/configs/config.py b/configs/config.py
index 41b531a..063c4d7 100644
--- a/configs/config.py
+++ b/configs/config.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 
 import argparse, yaml, json
+from archivers.base_archiver import Archiver
 import gspread
 from loguru import logger
 from selenium import webdriver
@@ -81,6 +82,8 @@ class Config:
         )
         self.webdriver = "not initialized"
 
+        Archiver.HASH_ALGORITHM = execution.get("hash_algorithm", Archiver.HASH_ALGORITHM)
+
         # ---------------------- SECRETS - APIs and service configurations
         secrets = self.config.get("secrets", {})
 
@@ -259,6 +262,7 @@ class Config:
             "storage": self.storage,
             "header": self.header,
             "check_if_exists": self.check_if_exists,
+            "hash_algorithm": Archiver.HASH_ALGORITHM,
             "save_logs": self.save_logs,
             "selenium_config": asdict(self.selenium_config),
             "selenium_webdriver": self.webdriver != None,
diff --git a/example.config.yaml b/example.config.yaml
index 3092efc..2cded09 100644
--- a/example.config.yaml
+++ b/example.config.yaml
@@ -80,6 +80,10 @@ execution:
   storage: s3
   # defaults to false, when true will try to avoid duplicate URL archives
   check_if_exists: true
+
+  # choose a hash algorithm (either SHA-256 or SHA3-512, defaults to SHA-256)
+  # hash_algorithm: SHA-256
+
   # optional configurations for the selenium browser that takes screenshots, these are the defaults
   selenium:
     # values under 10s might mean screenshots fail to grab screenshot
@@ -104,3 +108,4 @@ execution:
     duration: duration
     screenshot: screenshot
     hash: hash
+