US law enforcement authorities fined Twitter $150m (£119m) for collecting users’ data for security purposes and then using it to target advertising.
According to the court document, the offense occurred between May 2013 and September 2019; while Twitter presented to users that it collected their telephone numbers and email addresses to secure their accounts, Twitter failed to disclose that it also used users’ contact information to aid advertisers in reaching their preferred audiences.
The complaint said Twitter’s misrepresentations violated the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act and a 2011 settlement with the agency.
It also alleged that Twitter falsely said it complied with the European Union-US and Swiss-US privacy shield frameworks that prevent companies from using data in ways that consumers do not permit.
Twitter’s chief privacy officer, Damien Kieran, said in a statement that the company had “cooperated with the FTC every step of the way to settle.”
“In reaching this settlement, we have paid a $150m penalty, and we have aligned with the agency on operational updates and program enhancements to ensure that people’s personal data remains secure and their privacy protected”, he added.
Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, hopped on the FTC announcement by tweeting, “If Twitter was not truthful here, what else is not true? This is very concerning news.”
He further criticized the ad-driven model that serves as Twitter’s primary source of revenue and pledged to generate revenue for Twitter from different areas. However, he announced this month that the deal was “on hold” while he seeks clarification from Twitter on the number of spam or fake accounts on the service.
However, Twitter is not the only tech giant that has been fined by the FTC concerning users’ data privacy, Meta, formerly called Facebook, similarly settled a $5bn agreement in 2019 with the FTC for using phone numbers provided for two-factor authentication to serve ads enraged privacy advocates.
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Image Source – Twitter
