December 16, 2022
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has reportedly sent letters to Twitter asking if the company is capable of complying with a consent decree that the agency has vowed to strictly enforce.
The original FTC consent decree was issued in response to allegations that Twitter failed to protect user data during a 2009 hack that allowed attackers to send out fake messages from any user account, including celebrities and politicians.
Following that, the consent decree required Twitter to provide multi-factor authentication tools that did not require a phone number. Musk’s plans, however, seem to counter this. Also there is a lengthy contractual obligation for launching any new program like this to avoid data misuse.
Twitter’s turmoil and mass layoffs since Elon Musk’s takeover have raised concerns that the company will fail to comply with a $150 million settlement with the FTC in May 2022, in which the company agreed to improve its privacy practices and assess potential features for data privacy and security concerns.
It also addressed allegations that it used private information, such as phone numbers, for advertising after informing users that the information would be used for security purposes.
This agreement was reached before Musk took over.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
