Twitter agrees to pay $150M to the FTC, settling allegations that it misrepresented the “security and privacy” of user data between May 2013 and September 2019
The settlement formalizes the FTC exposure Twitter disclosed in 2020, when it said the agency could impose a $150M–$250M privacy penalty over use of email addresses and phone numbers for ad targeting. It also follows Twitter’s separate $809.5M investor-information settlement, making data-related disclosures a repeated liability point for the company.
The matter remained consequential beyond the payment: Twitter later sought to end an FTC order governing its data-security practices, showing that the enforcement fight extended into operational oversight.
First-order effects
Twitter pays $150 million to resolve the FTC’s allegations over how it represented the security and privacy of user data during the cited period.
The FTC converts a previously disclosed prospective fine into a completed enforcement action against Twitter.
Second-order effects
Twitter’s repeated settlements over user-data and investor information put greater weight on internal review of product, advertising, and public-disclosure claims.
Other platforms facing scrutiny over privacy representations face a clearer example of the FTC attaching financial penalties to alleged gaps between stated protections and data use.
Third-order effects
The case points to privacy enforcement increasingly treating data-use representations as an operational governance issue, not merely a communications problem.
If similar actions continue, platforms’ ability to use account and contact data will be shaped more directly by enforceable limits on how those practices are described to users.
The trend: U.S. platform oversight is moving toward financial penalties and ongoing constraints when companies’ privacy claims diverge from their data-use practices.
I think @elonmusk should renegotiate terms because of this. This is another example of why we need robust state/federal laws to stop these tech oligarchs from stealing consumer data. https://twitter.com/...
No surprise that Twitter can't be trusted with private personal data. Hope this doesn't deter people from using MFA. If available, use MFA that doesn't involve personal information like phone numbers ✅ https://twitter.com/...
Oooooh not good! I'm surprised Twitter was doing this given Facebook/Instagram got in trouble for doing the same thing years earlier. https://twitter.com/...
The @FTC found that Twitter misled millions of users and used their phone and email data to make a profit. As Chair of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, I vow to hold big tech accountable. These privacy failures must end. https://www.ftc.gov/...
Facebook did this too and it was such obvious crap. Most likely Facebook thought the fine was a good deal, but Twitter at this point is close to running a GoFundMe and needed this money. https://twitter.com/...
Twitter says in a blog post that the use of the info for ads targeting was a mistake and that it was first disclosed in 2019 https://blog.twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...