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Twitter will pay a $150 million fine over accusations1 it improperly2 sold user data
Twitter has agreed to pay a $150 million fine after federal law enforcement officials accused the social media company of illegally using peoples' personal data over six years to help sell targeted advertisements.
In court documents made public on Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice say Twitter violated a 2011 agreement with regulators in which the company vowed4 to not use information gathered for security purposes, like users' phone numbers and email addresses, to help advertisers target people with ads.
Federal investigators5 say Twitter broke that promise.
"As the complaint notes, Twitter obtained data from users on the pretext6 of harnessing it for security purposes but then ended up also using the data to target users with ads," said FTC Chair Lina Khan.
Twitter requires users to provide a telephone number and email address to authenticate7 accounts. That information also helps people reset8 their passwords and unlock their accounts when the company blocks logging in due to suspicious activity.
But until at least September 2019, Twitter was also using that information to boost its advertising9 business by allowing advertisers access to users' phone numbers and email addresses. That ran afoul of the agreement the company had with regulators.
"If you're telling people you're using their phone numbers to secure their accounts, and then you use them for other purposes, you're deceiving them and breaking the law," said Sam Levine, who leads the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, in an interview with NPR.
More than 140 million Twitter users provided this kind of personal information based on "Twitter's deceptive10 statements," according to federal prosecutors11.
"Consumers who share their private information have a right to know if that information is being used to help advertisers target customers," said U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds12 for the Northern District of California.
Twitter's chief privacy officer, Damien Kieran, acknowledged in a blog post that users' personal information "may have been inadvertently used for advertising."
He said the company is no longer selling information gathered for security purposes to advertisers.
"Keeping data secure and respecting privacy is something we take extremely seriously, and we have cooperated with the FTC every step of the way," Kieran wrote.
Under terms of a proposed agreement, Twitter agreed to stop profiting from information gathered for security purposes. The deal, which still needs the court's approval, also would limit employees' access to users' personal data.
The action echoes a sweeping13 settlement with the FTC that included a $5 billion fine against Facebook in 2019 in which the social media giant committed to stop sharing information obtained for security purposes with advertisers.
Under the terms of the FTC's deal with Twitter, regulators and an independent monitor will have oversight14 of the company's advertising practices for two decades.
Justin Brookman, the director of Technology Policy at Consumer Reports, said as regulators continue to crack down on targeted ads, companies like Twitter that have long relied on tracking tools could be in trouble.
"We're seeing a confluence15 of regulators, but also browsers16 and operating systems, cut down on cookies and cut down on a lot of tools companies use to track people across services," Brookman said. "I think, in some respects, a lot of these tools are going away and companies are going to have to find new ways to make revenue, that the days of just printing money from targeted ads are coming to a close."
The settlement comes during a precarious17 time at Twitter.
The company has been in a state of crisis since Tesla CEO Elon Musk18 launched a $44 billion hostile takeover of the social media site last month.
Musk recently declared the deal is "temporarily on hold," arguing that he must first determine how widespread bot accounts are on the site.
But corporate19 merger20 experts, and members of Twitter's chief executive, have noted21 that the deal is still moving forward, since Musk is in a legally binding22 contract with the company pending23 shareholder24 and regulatory review.
Musk has not yet commented on Wednesday's settlement.
1 accusations | |
n.指责( accusation的名词复数 );指控;控告;(被告发、控告的)罪名 | |
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2 improperly | |
不正确地,不适当地 | |
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3 transcript | |
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
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4 vowed | |
起誓,发誓(vow的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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5 investigators | |
n.调查者,审查者( investigator的名词复数 ) | |
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6 pretext | |
n.借口,托词 | |
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7 authenticate | |
vt.证明…为真,鉴定 | |
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8 reset | |
v.重新安排,复位;n.重新放置;重放之物 | |
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9 advertising | |
n.广告业;广告活动 a.广告的;广告业务的 | |
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10 deceptive | |
adj.骗人的,造成假象的,靠不住的 | |
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11 prosecutors | |
检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 ); 告发人; 起诉人; 公诉人 | |
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12 hinds | |
n.(常指动物腿)后面的( hind的名词复数 );在后的;(通常与can或could连用)唠叨不停;滔滔不绝 | |
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13 sweeping | |
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
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14 oversight | |
n.勘漏,失察,疏忽 | |
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15 confluence | |
n.汇合,聚集 | |
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16 browsers | |
浏览器 | |
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17 precarious | |
adj.不安定的,靠不住的;根据不足的 | |
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18 musk | |
n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物,香猫 | |
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19 corporate | |
adj.共同的,全体的;公司的,企业的 | |
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20 merger | |
n.企业合并,并吞 | |
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21 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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22 binding | |
有约束力的,有效的,应遵守的 | |
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23 pending | |
prep.直到,等待…期间;adj.待定的;迫近的 | |
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24 shareholder | |
n.股东,股票持有人 | |
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