Exploiting User's Phone Number And Email Address For Advertising, Twitter Gets Fined IDR 2.1 Trillion

Twitter manages users' contact information. (photo: doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA - Twitter has recently become the main topic, especially regarding its deal with billionaire Elon Musk, now the company has to face a lawsuit by the United States (US) government.

The lawsuit, filed by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the Northern District of California, includes alleged misuse of user data, which Twitter uses for advertising.

The issue the lawsuit targets is how Twitter manages users' contact information, and how the social media giant failed to inform its users of how this data was used for targeted advertising.

"Twitter obtains data from users under the pretext of using it for security purposes, but ultimately also uses the data to target users with advertisements. This practice affects more than 140 million Twitter users, while increasing Twitter's main source of revenue," said FTC chairman Lina Khan in a statement. a statement.

In the lawsuit, the US government focuses on the time period between May 2013 and September 2019. According to the allegations in the lawsuit, Twitter misled its users during that time period, alleging data such as phone numbers and email addresses were used only to protect their Twitter accounts.

This means that Twitter notifies users that this data is to protect their accounts, but is also used to help advertisers reach Twitter users.

The accusations didn't stop there. The US government also noted the company failed to ensure tweets and DMs from protected accounts were not accessible to Twitter employees.

Therefore, the DoJ fined Twitter as much as 150 million US dollars or approximately IDR 2.1 trillion. In addition, Twitter must also always comply with every rule of the US government.

If the allegations are true, Twitter would be violating the 2011 FTC Act and Orders. The law prohibits companies from making false statements about the security of non-public consumer information.

In response, Twitter's head of privacy, Damien Kieran, said the company has been working closely with the FTC every step of the way.

"In reaching this settlement, we have paid a fine of 150 million US dollars, and we have been working closely with the agency on operational updates and program improvements to ensure that people's personal data remains safe and their privacy is protected," Kieran said as quoted by The Guardian, Friday, May 27.

For information, Twitter generates 90 percent of its annual revenue of 5 billion US dollars, approximately IDR 73 trillion from advertising. His reliance on that revenue has caught the attention of Elon Musk, who has agreed to buy the company for $44 billion.