Skip to main content

Twitter expecting FTC fine of up to $250M for alleged privacy violations

Twitter says it is expecting the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to hit it with a fine of between $150 million and $250 million over alleged privacy violations.

In a 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the San Francisco-based company said it received a draft complaint from the FTC on July 28 detailing alleged violations of Twitter’s 2011 consent order with the commission that required it to stop misleading its users regarding how it protects their personal data.

Specifically, the allegations relate to Twitter’s use of users’ phone numbers and email data that it gathered for safety and security purposes but which was also used for targeted advertising between 2013 and 2019.

The issue came to light in October 2019 when Twitter addressed it publicly. Explaining what had happened, the company said that when an advertiser uploaded their marketing list, “we may have matched people on Twitter to their list based on the email or phone number the Twitter account holder provided for safety and security purposes.” It said the action had been carried out “inadvertently” and described it as an “error.” It added that it couldn’t be certain how many people on its platform had had their data used for advertising purposes.

It also said that it put a block on the practice in September 2019 to ensure that gathered phone numbers and emails no longer had any connection with targeted ads served on the site.

The allegation therefore isn’t about whether the incident happened, but whether it violated the agreement between Twitter and the FTC.

Digital Trends has reached out to Twitter for more information on the issue and we will update this article when we hear back.

To be clear, the expected fine has nothing to do with the major hack that recently targeted a number of high-profile Twitter accounts in a scam that tricked some followers into sending money to the perpetrators.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Here’s a shocking reminder of just how far ahead Intel is in race with AMD
Intel Core i5-14600K processor inside its socket.

It's no secret that between Intel and AMD, it's Intel that holds the majority of the market -- but a recent market analysis report really highlights just how much Intel beats both AMD and Apple. While both Intel and AMD make some of the best CPUs, and Apple has its own excellent proprietary silicon, Intel's CPU shipments trump them both. The report tells us that Intel controls a whopping 78% of the PC processor market.

The information comes from Canalys, a PC industry research firm. It's worth noting that it excludes tablets, which would have bumped up Apple's numbers a bit, as well as Qualcomm's. But zooming in on the PC CPU market alone, including desktops and laptops, tells a different story. The research shows a 78% market share for Intel and 13% for AMD, while Apple accounts for about 8% or slightly more. The rest belongs to MediaTek, Qualcomm, and ARM.

Read more
Beware! The latest Windows 11 update might crash your PC
A laptop running Windows 11.

Microsoft releases routine updates for Windows every month, and while the intent is to fix issues and occasionally add new features, the latest one is doing more harm than good. Some Windows 11 users have taken to social media to report that the latest KB5035853 update could be crashing their PCs, with the feared Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) appearing on startup.

Although Microsoft hasn't appeared to document any known issues with this update for Windows 11 22H2 and Windows 11 23H3, there's a Reddit thread on the matter. Frustrated Windows 11 users mention the problems they are experiencing after installing the update. One mentions that Explorer.exe shows an error during shutdown and another reports that the ribbon of the File Explorer is slow to load. Audio-related issues and PCs feeling laggy when gaming are among some of the other problems being reported.

Read more
We finally know the price of Asus’ most powerful gaming NUC
The Asus ROG NUC on a desk surrounded by three monitors.

The first Asus ROG NUC (Next Unit of Computing) model is just around the corner. The small form factor PC is now up for pre-order at a German retailer, and although it's powerful enough to rival some of the best laptops, it costs more than many comparable models -- and you'll still have to pay extra for a monitor.

Asus' first take on Intel's portable PC contains a lot of compute power in a small chassis. Although there are a few configurations of the PC, the one that was spotted up for sale ahead of time comes with Intel's latest Meteor Lake-H CPU, the Core Ultra 9 185H, which sports 16 cores and 22 threads and can be boosted to run at up to 5.1GHz, all with a thermal design power (TDP) of 45 watts. However, Asus allows overclocking, meaning that the CPU can run at up to 65 watts instead.

Read more