LOC08:37
05:37 GMT
WASHINGTON, May 26 (KUNA) -- The Department of Justice (DOJ), together with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), said on Wednesday that, Twitter has agreed to settle the government's allegations of data privacy violations by paying a USD 150 million civil penalty.
Twitter also agreed to implement "significant new compliance measures intended to ensure that Twitter improves its data privacy practices."
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement that the settlement will "resolve allegations that Twitter violated the FTC Act and an administrative order issued by the FTC in March 2011 by misrepresenting how it would make use of users' nonpublic contact information."
"The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the privacy of consumers' sensitive data," Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said.
"The USD 150 million penalty reflects the seriousness of the allegations against Twitter and the substantial new compliance measures to be imposed as a result of today's proposed settlement will help prevent further misleading tactics that threaten users' privacy."
On her part, FTC Chair Lina Khan said "Twitter obtained data from users on the pretext of harnessing it for security purposes but then ended up also using the data to target users with ads."
She added, "This practice affected more than 140 million Twitter users, while boosting Twitter's primary source of revenue." (end)
si.gta