The United States Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission announced Wednesday that they are settling a lawsuit with social media giant Twitter for $150 million in civil penalties and taking "robust" measures to protect users' privacy.
"The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the privacy of consumers' sensitive data," Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a press release announcing the proposed settlement Wednesday. "The $150 million penalty reflects the seriousness of the allegations against Twitter, and the substantial new compliance measures to be imposed as a result of today's proposed settlement will help prevent further misleading tactics that threaten users' privacy."
The federal agencies filed a complaint Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleging Twitter violated the FTC Act and a 2011 consent order from a prior case by lying to users about the security and privacy of their personal information.
The complaint charges that Twitter deceived users in 2013-19 by telling them that it needed their telephone numbers and email addresses for "account security purposes," when it was using that same information to help third-party companies send those users targeted advertisements.
"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," FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said in the release. "This practice affected more than 140 million Twitter users, while boosting Twitter’s primary source of revenue."
The settlement, which must be approved by the court to become final, requires Twitter to implement new compliance measures to safeguard private information of its users, develop and maintain a "comprehensive privacy information-security program" and conduct a privacy review with a written report before introducing a new service or product that collects users' information.
"Consumers who share their private information have a right to know if that information is being used to help advertisers target customers," U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds for the Northern District of California said. "Social media companies that are not honest with consumers about how their personal information is being used will be held accountable."
The current case accused Twitter of violating the terms of the 2011 FTC case in which it promised to be more diligent in protecting private information of its users, and not "misrepresent" to them how the information the company collected would be used.
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