"Twitter to Pay $150m Fine to Resolve Data Privacy Violations"

Twitter has agreed to pay a $150m fine to settle a federal privacy suit over privacy data violations.  Twitter reportedly was collecting phone numbers and email addresses for account security measures and then using the information for advertising purposes without letting users know.  Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta stated that this practice affected more than 140 million Twitter users while boosting Twitter’s primary source of revenue.  The violation was recorded between May 2013 to September 2019 and violated a 2011 consent order between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Twitter that prevented the company from misrepresenting how it used individuals’ contact information.  The complaint that was filed by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California also alleged that Twitter falsely claimed to comply with the European Union-US and Swiss-US Privacy Shield Frameworks.  The social media giant said it will comply with the court’s decision, pay the fine and introduce a comprehensive privacy and information security program, which will include independent security audits every two years until 2042.  Twitter will also have to notify U.S. customers who joined its platform before September 17, 2019, about the settlement and provide them with options for protecting their privacy and security in the future.

Infosecurity reports: "Twitter to Pay $150m Fine to Resolve Data Privacy Violations"