Musk was reportedly appointed to the Twitter board on Saturday, but the world’s richest man told the company the day he would not actually take the board seat.
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Twitter has reached a $ 150 million deal with the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission over alleged falsifications of its data privacy practices, the agencies announced Wednesday.
The deal, which is yet to be approved by a federal judge, would resolve the government’s claims that Twitter did not properly inform its users about how their contact information would be used to target ads instead of just protecting their accounts. , in violation of the FTC Act and a 2011 agreement it reached with the agency.
In a lawsuit that accompanied the announcement of the deal, the government accused Twitter of distorting the scope of its security and privacy protections on non-public contact information of users between at least May 2013 and in September 2019.
The agencies alleged that Twitter told users that it was collecting phone numbers and email addresses to protect their accounts with two-factor authentication, but did not disclose that it also used this information to help advertisers target their messages. They also accused Twitter of falsely claiming to comply with international privacy shield frameworks that prohibit companies from processing user data for purposes they have not authorized.
In a statement announcing the deal, FTC President Lina Khan said the alleged Twitter violations affected more than 140 million Twitter users.
As part of the agreement, Twitter will also need to install new compliance measures, such as creating a full privacy program, conducting a privacy review, and a written report before implementing any new product or service that collects users’ private information and regularly tests their data privacy protections. You will also need to undergo regular independent evaluations of your data privacy program. Both the DOJ and the FTC will be responsible for enforcing the terms of the settlement.
DOJ Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a statement: “The $ 150 million sanction reflects the seriousness of the allegations against Twitter, and the substantial new enforcement measures that will be imposed as a result of the Today’s proposed agreement will help prevent more deceptive tactics that threaten users. “privacy.”
The $ 150 million fine represents approximately 3% of Twitter’s 2021 revenue of $ 5.08 billion in 2021.
The agreement is the latest attempt by U.S. law enforcement to enforce consumer protection law on alleged data privacy violations. In 2019, the FTC settled a $ 5 billion record privacy lawsuit against Facebook. But critics at the time said that was not enough, given that this figure accounted for about 9% of the company’s revenue in 2018, and argued that it was a slap on the wrist that would encourage companies to re-assume these risks.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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