Twitter will pay a fine of 150 million US dollars in order to settle the privacy lawsuit with the US Department of Justice and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Previously, Twitter was accused of deceptively using users’ email addresses and phone numbers to serve targeted ads. In addition to the fines, Twitter must accept an audit of its data privacy program and other restrictions.
The lawsuit alleges that Twitter violated both the Federal Trade Commission Act and a 2011 settlement order by misrepresenting its policies to users between 2013 and 2019. Twitter is encouraging users to add phone numbers or email addresses to enable security measures such as two-factor authentication. But in fact, Twitter also incorporates this information into ad targeting data. Twitter apologized for the practice in 2019.
“The $150 million fine reflects the seriousness of the allegations against Twitter. Under today’s proposed settlement, many new compliance measures will be implemented that will help prevent more misleading tactics that threaten user privacy,” U.S. Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a statement. In 2019, the FTC also sued Facebook for similar practices, fining it $5 billion.