SELLING WHAT ISN’T THEIRS

Twitter Reaches $150 Million Settlement Over Claims That It Improperly Used User Data

Federal agencies allege that Twitter acted in violation of both a Federal Trade Commission act and a 2011 settlement.

Twitter agreed to a $150 million settlement in a lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission over claims that it improperly used user data and misrepresented privacy practices between 2013 and 2019. The settlement, made public Wednesday, still needs to be approved by a federal judge and would also force Twitter to install new compliance measures, including implementing a privacy program and testing data privacy protections regularly. In reaching the agreement, Twitter resolves the agencies’ claims that the company did not adequately inform users about how their phone numbers and email addresses would be used in targeted advertisements. The agencies claim that Twitter told users their privacy information would be used for two-factor authentication without specifying that it would also be used to help advertisers target messages. According to the chairwoman of the FTC, the practice affected 140 million users.