FTC Fines Twitter $150 Million Over Deceptive Account Data Use – Lexology

On May 25, 2022, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and Department of Justice (“DoJ”) charged social media platform Twitter, Inc. with illegal and deceptive use of Twitter account holders’ security data to target them with advertisements. In the complaint, a copy of which can be found Here, the FTC and DoJ charge that Twitter violated a 2011 FTC Consent Order (Exhibit A to the complaint) by requesting account holders to provide their email addresses and phone numbers under the pretext of aiding Twitter to improve the security of their data and then provided (i.e., sold) the personal information to Twitter advertisers to use in targeting the account holders with advertisements. In an accompanying stipulated decision and order settling the complaint, the FTC and DoJ ordered Twitter to pay a penalty of $150 million; desist from the practice going forward; allow account holders to use multi-factor authentication and other Twitter security features without providing their email addresses and phone numbers; establish and maintain a comprehensive privacy and security program to include any new products and features; and submit to and cooperate with trusted third party monitoring and reporting obligations. A copy of the decision and order can be found Here. We…
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