United States Federal Trade Commission Fines Twitter $150 Million Over Privacy, Security Violations

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ordered Twitter Incorporation to pay a sum of $150m as a fine for violating the 2011 administrative order of the Commission over its decision to use the email addresses and phone numbers of its users for targeted advertising.

The suit noted that the misrepresentations violated the FTC Act. Therefore, the commission and Twitter agreed to a settlement of $150 million after Twitter had earlier told users that the data was gathered for security purposes.

Checks by Investors King show the verdict was announced by the U.S Department of Justice (DoJ) on Wednesday.  The US DoJ in its 20-page count filed in the US District Court alleged that Twitter asked users for their contact information to make their accounts more secure. The social media giant failed to tell users that it would also use their phone numbers and email addresses to help companies send targeted ads to them.

“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,” FTC Chair, Lina Khan accused.

Khan further said the practice affected more than 140 million Twitter users while boosting Twitter’s primary source of revenue.

The 2011 FTC order stated that Twitter “engaged in deceptive acts or practices” by misrepresenting how it handled user data and that the company lacked reasonable safeguards to keep accounts and data secure. Additionally, the order barred Twitter from misrepresenting “the extent to which [it] maintains and protects the security, privacy, confidentiality, or integrity of any nonpublic consumer information,” the order read in part.

Twitter’s settlement covers allegations that it misrepresented the “security and privacy” of user data between May 2013 and September 2019, according to the court documents.

In addition to the monetary settlement, the agreement requires Twitter to improve its compliance practices,” according to the statement of order.

According to the complaint issued, “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.”

Twitter is a free service that generates its revenue majorly through advertising

The company generated $5bn in revenue in 2021 and said in a filing earlier in May that it had put aside $150m after agreeing” in principle” upon a sanction by the FTC.