FTC, DOJ Fine Twitter $150M for Improper Use of Users' Phone Numbers
Source: Adweek
The purpose of two-factor authentication is to add another layer of safety for users of platforms, but for five-plus years, Twitter used the phone numbers that people provided for ad-targeting purposes, and now it will have to pay up. The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice ordered Twitter to pay a $150 million penalty and banned it from profiting from the data that was collected under those pretenses.
For context, the fine is slightly less than the $170 million Google and YouTube were penalized ($136 million to the FTC and $34 million to New York State) in September 2019 for violations of the Children’s Privacy Law, but it is dwarfed by then-Facebook’s $5 billion settlement with the commission over the Cambridge Analytica data-sharing scandal, which was finalized in April 2020.
FTC chair Lina Khan said in a statement, “As the complaint notes, 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. This practice affected more than 140 million Twitter users, while boosting Twitter’s primary source of revenue.”
Twitter chief privacy officer Damien Kieran responded in a blog post, “Keeping data secure and respecting privacy is something we take extremely seriously, and we have cooperated with the FTC every step of the way. In reaching this settlement, we have paid a $150 million 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.”
Read more: https://www.adweek.com/media/ftc-doj-fine-twitter-150m-for-improper-use-of-users-phone-numbers/
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