A request made in the name of safety carries a particular responsibility: people need to understand what they are agreeing to provide. On May 25, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission alleged that Twitter obtained phone numbers and email addresses with account-security assurances but failed to disclose their use for targeted advertising. According to the complaint, more than 140 million users supplied such information from 2014 to 2019. [ftc]

The ethical concern is the gap between the stated purpose and the additional use, rather than an assumption that all advertising or all security data collection is wrong. The FTC described matching those details with information advertisers held or acquired from brokers. Our reading is that a person’s ability to make an informed choice depends on knowing about that second purpose before the information becomes useful to someone else. [ftc]

The proposed remedies offered concrete forms of accountability. The FTC described notices explaining the misuse and privacy controls, along with authentication options that would not require a phone number. The Justice Department described regular independent privacy assessments and annual certifications from a senior officer. These measures address different obligations: informing users, preserving a security option and making the company answer for its practices. [ftc][doj]

DOJ said the agreement, including a $150 million civil penalty, required federal court approval. The allegations should not become an editorial declaration of established guilt, and proposed safeguards should not become a promise of restored trust. Religious and nonreligious readers need not share a doctrine to examine whether these specific obligations respect user agency. The two releases describe one government enforcement effort; neither supplies evidence here that the remedies had been implemented or trust repaired. [doj][ftc]

Source documents

  1. FTC Charges Twitter with Deceptively Using Account Security Data to Sell Targeted Adshttps://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/05/ftc-charges-twitter-deceptively-using-account-security-data-sell-targeted-ads
  2. Twitter Agrees with DOJ and FTC to Pay $150 Million Civil Penalty and to Implement Comprehensive Compliance Program to Resolve Alleged Data Privacy Violationshttps://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/twitter-agrees-doj-and-ftc-pay-150-million-civil-penalty-and-implement-comprehensive