JAKARTA - Twitter is facing a fine imposed by the US Department of Justice as well as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of 150 million US dollars or equivalent to Rp. 2.1 trillion. This fine is the result of a violation of user privacy in the form of using phone number data for ad targeting.
As a result of this privacy violation, of course the security of user data is now being questioned and therefore the US Government through the FTC is suing Twitter for this mistake.
As reported by Reuters, Twitter has agreed to pay the large fine for misusing user data between May 2013 and September 2019.
"Twitter states to users that they collect their phone numbers and email addresses to secure their accounts, but apparently Twitter fails to disclose that it also uses users' contact information to assist advertisers in reaching their preferred audience," said court documents discussing the lawsuit. , Thursday 26 May.
In addition to monetary settlements, the agreement requires Twitter to improve its compliance practices.
Twitter's head of privacy Damien Kieran said in a statement that the settlement was done by aligning with ad agencies on operational updates and program improvements to protect user privacy and security.
Twitter is a free service that makes money mainly through advertising.
Billionaire Elon Musk, who just bought the service for $44 billion, also promised Twitter under his leadership to diversify its revenue sources beyond advertising.
"If Twitter isn't being honest here, what else isn't true? This is very concerning news," Musk said in a tweet late Wednesday, commenting on the social media company's advertising practices and fines.
US officials point out that of the $3.4 billion in revenue Twitter generated in 2019, about $3 billion came from advertising.
In 2021 the company with the blue bird logo has made 5 billion US dollars and finally they agreed to a fine given by the FTC worth 150 million US dollars.
"Twitter obtained data from users under the pretext of using it for security purposes, but ended up also using the data to target users with advertisements," FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement.
He further added, "This practice affects more than 140 million Twitter users, while increasing Twitter's main source of revenue."
Twitter desktop (PIXABAY/PhotoMIX-Company)
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