US regulators allege the company gave advertisers user contact information collected in the name of security
Twitter will pay a $150m penalty and put in new safeguards to settle federal regulators’ allegations that the social media company gave advertisers improper access to users’ personal information.
The justice department and the Federal Trade Commission announced the settlement with Twitter on Wednesday.
From May 2013 to September 2019, the agencies said in a complaint filed on Wednesday, Twitter told users that it was collecting their phone numbers and email addresses for purposes of account security. But the company failed to disclose that it also would use the information to enable companies to send targeted online ads to users, according to the agencies.
The DOJ and FTC also alleged in the complaint that Twitter falsely claimed that it complied with US privacy agreements with the European Union and Switzerland, which prohibit companies from processing user information in ways that are at odds with purposes authorized by users.
The regulators say the settlement will resolve allegations that Twitter violated the FTC act and a 2011 FTC order by deceiving users about how well it maintained and protected the privacy and security of their nonpublic contact information.
The $150m penalty and the required new compliance measures under the settlement must be approved by a federal court in California.
News of the settlement comes as Twitter is in deep turmoil over a $44bn takeover plan by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Musk in April reached a deal to buy Twitter at $54.20 a share. But the Tesla CEO said weeks later the deal could not progress until the platform proved that fewer than 5% of its users were fake or spam accounts.
Twitter executives have stated since that they intend to move forward with the deal. If Musks walks away, he could be on the hook for a $1bn breakup fee.
