Twitter to pay $150 million to settle lawsuit alleging deceptive use of data for targeted advertising

(Representative image: AP)

Twitter will pay $150 million to settle a lawsuit with the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission that alleges the company deceptively used member phone numbers and email addresses for targeted advertisements.

As part of the settlement, Twitter will now maintain a privacy and information security programme that will be the subject to the scrutiny of regular tests and audits. It will also inform anyone who joined Twitter before September 2019 of the lawsuit and the settlement once approved.

As seen by The Verge, the filing says that Twitter violated the FTC Act between 2013 and 2019 by misrepresenting its policies to users. While users were encouraged to add phone numbers and email addresses for increased security, Twitter used the information without their knowledge to serve them ads.

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Twitter apologised in 2019 by saying that it had inadvertently allowed phone numbers and email addresses to be accessed within its ad targeting systems. The filing also states that the company lied when it said it complied with the European Union-US and Swiss-US Privacy Shield Frameworks that impose a limit on how user information can be used by companies.

“The $150 million penalty reflects the seriousness of the allegations against Twitter," said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta in a statement.

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"The substantial new compliance measures to be imposed as a result of today’s proposed settlement will help prevent further misleading tactics that threaten users’ privacy,” Gupta added.