The U.S. Department of Justice has reached an agreement on Twitter that provides for a fine of 150 million U.S. dollars (192 million Canadian dollars) and obligations for the social network to further respect the confidentiality of personal information.
Authorities accuse the platform of deceiving its users from 2013 to 2019 by hiding that it uses their personal data to help companies send them targeted advertising.
The Department of Justice complaint specifically cited the collection of telephone numbers and email addresses for the stated purpose of securing access to the accounts.
But they also used this data to target Internet users with ads.said Lina M. Khan, the president of the American competition authority (FTC).
” This practice has affected more than 140 million Twitter users, and has helped increase the main source of revenue. “
Resolved the problem since 2019
Twitter confirmed in a press release that it paid the fine and acknowledged a circumstances.
Some email addresses and phone numbers provided for security purposes may be inadvertently used for advertising purposes.detailed Damien Kieran, Chief Privacy Officer.
The San Francisco -based company says it has it the problem is fixed in September 2019.
The agreement, which must be approved by a judge, also provides for the company to improve its data privacy practices.
Specifically, it will need to set up a comprehensive information security programassess the upstream of any new product or service that includes the collection of personal data and submit to various independent audits.
Targeting behavior
The topic of privacy has gained momentum in recent years after several political scandals and widespread awareness around the economic model of social networks.
Large free platforms depend, for their turnover, on the mountains of information they collect from their users, on the service of advertisers who pay to target them with personalized ads on a massive scale.
Twitter’s commitment to security and privacy is not a limited time exercise but a core value we strive to incorporate by updating our practices to meet the evolving needs of our customers.assurance by Damien Kieran.
Twitter is currently the subject of a controversial bid to take over the power of Elon Musk, the richest man in the world.
Source: Radio-Canada
