Over the last two weeks, Twitter has been in the news.
The microblogging service has weathered storms ranging from billionaire investor Elon Musk’s controversial acquisition to stakeholders launching a lawsuit alleging market manipulation.
The corporation was fined $150 million by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) last week for sharing customers’ data with third parties without their authorization. Twitter collected email addresses and phone numbers for security reasons, but then exploited the information to target them with advertisements, according to authorities.
FTC chair, Lina Khan observed:
“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 observed. “This practice affected more than 140 million users while boosting Twitter’s primary source of revenue.”
Between May 2013 and September 2019, the cases that led to the substantial fine occurred. While users were requested to supply information for two-factor authentication, Twitter exploited this information to allow advertisers to target specific groups of Twitter users. Advertisers were able to match phone numbers and email addresses to what they already had in their database, making it simple to send tailored ads.