Twitter has agreed to pay $150 million to settle a federal privacy suit filed by the US government last week over privacy data violation.
Between May 2013 and September 2019, Twitter asked users for private details to secure their accounts, but then used that information to target users with ads, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice, stated.
"Twitter obtained data from users on the pretext of harnessing it for security purposes but then ended up also using the data to target users with ads," said FTC Chair Lina Khan in a statement. "This practice affected more than 140 million Twitter users while boosting Twitter's primary source of revenue."
This is not the first incident where Twitter violated the FTC Act, under which the agency is “empowered to prevent unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.” In 2011, Twitter settled with the FTC, which had accused Twitter of serious loopholes in its data security that allowed attackers to secure unauthorized administrative control of the platform.
The consent order between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Twitter prevented the company from misrepresenting how it used individuals’ email addresses and phone numbers.
The fine announced on Wednesday last week has been a couple years in the making. In August 2022, Twitter warned investors regarding an FTC probe and potentially a penalty of more than a hundred million dollars for both violating the FTC Act again and its 2011 settlement.
“Specifically, while Twitter represented to users that it collected their telephone numbers and email addresses to secure their accounts, Twitter failed to disclose that it also used user contact information to aid advertisers in reaching their preferred audiences,” the complaint, which was filed by the DOJ on behalf of the FTC, said.
The social media giant said it will comply with the court’s decision, pay the fine and launch robust privacy and information security program, which will include independent security audits every two years until 2042.
Further, Twitter will be required to notify all US users who joined its platform before September 17 2019 regarding the settlement and offer them options for guarding their privacy and security in the future.
