Twitter Use of Private Info and Violation of Consent Order Class Action

Twitter, Inc. operates a popular online communication service that has some 330 million monthly users around the world. The complaint for this class action alleges, however, that Twitter makes a “surreptitious and undisclosed” use of Twitter users’ private information, for advertising and marketing, and eventually, for its own profit. The complaint also alleges that in doing so, Twitter violated an earlier Federal Trade Commission (FTC) order against it.

The Nationwide Class for this action is all individuals living in the US who, between May 2013 and September 2019, gave their telephone numbers or email addresses to Twitter for the purpose of two-factor authentication, account recovery, or account reauthentication.

The complaint alleges, “In 2011, the FTC charged Twitter with engaging in deceptive acts or practices in violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act … for its failures to provide reasonable security measures to prevent unauthorized access to nonpublic user information and to honor the privacy choices exercised by Twitter users.”

That earlier complaint claimed that Twitter had misrepresented that its users could control who saw their tweets with a “protected account” and could sent “direct messages” that only the designated recipients could see. In fact, the complaint alleges, “Twitter lacked reasonable safeguards to ensure those choices were honored” and did not tell the truth about its controls, because “in fact, Twitter lacked reasonable safeguards to limit or prevent unauthorized access to nonpublic user information…”

At the time, Twitter entered into a consent settlement with the FTC. The complaint quotes that 2011 agreement as saying that Twitter “shall not misrepresent in any manner, expressly or by implication, the extent to which [Twitter] maintains and protects the security, privacy, confidentiality, or integrity of any nonpublic consumer information.”

In recent years, Twitter has been asking users to give it their telephone numbers or email addresses, to be used for securing or recovering their accounts with two-factor authentication. But the complaint alleges that this information is also used to profit Twitter with its advertising services.

The complaint alleges that Twitter uses the telephone numbers and email addresses in its Tailored Audiences and Partner Audiences services marketing products, “permitting advertisers to target specific groups of Twitter users by matching the telephone numbers and email addresses that Twitter collects to the advertisers’ existing (or purchased) lists of telephone numbers and email addresses.” It claims this allows them to target ads to Twitter users.

On May 25, 2022, the complaint claims, the FTC filed another complaint against Twitter about this conduct. An FTC Business Blog article, appearing on that day, was titled “Twitter to pay $150 million penalty for allegedly breaking its privacy promises—again.” The article began, “It’s FTC 101. Companies can’t tell consumers they will use their personal information for one purpose and then use it for another.”

This class action aims to obtain some compensation for Twitter users.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Privacy
Tags: Breach of Contract, Breach of Implied Contract, Misrepresentations or False Statements, Sharing Personal Information with Third Parties, Your Privacy