FTC Investigating Twitter for Privacy Violations
Twitter warns that possible fines for misusing consumer email and phone contact information could reach $250 million
Twitter is being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission for improperly allowing consumers’ email addresses and phone numbers to be used for targeting ads.
Twitter announced the investigation, which was first reported by the New York Times, in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday. On Tuesday, the FTC confirmed to Consumer Reports that it does have an open investigation into Twitter, but the agency didn’t give further details.
Consumer contact information is collected by Twitter for security, including two-factor authentication, which requires anyone logging in to an account to enter a second form of identification, such as a one-time passcode. That’s meant to protect consumers from hackers.
The company said last fall that some of the information “may have inadvertently been used” to let advertisers target specific types of people for marketing messages. The problem allegedly persisted from 2013 to 2019.
In the SEC filing, Twitter says it received a draft complaint from the FTC late last month. The misuse of data could put Twitter in violation of a 2011 FTC consent decree, which stemmed from two incidents in 2009 where hackers were able to take administrative control of Twitter and access private consumer information, as well as send out fake tweets from consumer accounts.
