Two-Factor authentication has always been a platform ruse for gathering data on platform users. Twitter was just one company amid a large number of on-line platforms who pushed “two factor authentication” as a security measure. The real motive of TFA was to gain the user cell phone number in order to gain more specific information about the user.
Today multiple media outlets are reporting the FTC and Twitter have agreed to a settlement where Twitter will pay a $150 million settlement for violating user privacy and selling user data. Twitter collected cell phone and email account information for users under the auspices of user security. However, Twitter actually planned to use the cell phone and email data to sell a more comprehensive package of user identification to advertisers.
(Reuters) – […] The company will pay $150 million as part of the settlement announced by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In addition to the monetary settlement, the agreement requires Twitter to improve its compliance practices.
The complaint said that the misrepresentations violated the FTC Act and a 2011 settlement with the agency.
“Specifically, while Twitter represented to users that it collected their telephone numbers and email addresses to secure their accounts, Twitter failed to disclose that it also used user contact information to aid advertisers in reaching their preferred audiences,” the complaint 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,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan in a statement. “This practice affected more than 140 million Twitter users, while boosting Twitter’s primary source of revenue.”
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