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Twitter 'Unintentionally' Used Some Customer Data Provided for Account Security for Advertising Purposes

Tuesday October 8, 2019 3:27 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Twitter's support account today announced that Twitter used some customer email addresses and phone numbers that were provided for account security for advertising purposes, which Twitter says was done "unintentionally."

More specifically, email addresses and phone numbers were used in Twitter's Tailored Audiences and Partner Audiences advertising systems. Tailored Audiences is a feature that's designed to let advertisers target ads to customers based on the advertiser's marketing lists, while Partner Audiences is similar.

According to Twitter, when an advertiser uploaded a marketing list, it "may have matched" people on Twitter to their list based on the email or phone number the Twitter account holder provided for security purposes.


Twitter says that it "cannot say with certainty" how many people were affected, and the company has issued an apology. "We're very sorry this happened and are taking steps to make sure we don't make a mistake like this again," reads a help document.

Personal data was not provided externally with partners or other third parties, and as of September 17, the issue has been fixed and phone numbers and email addresses collected for account security are no longer being used for advertising.

Tag: Twitter
[ 62 comments ]

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keysofanxiety
1 week ago


All these BIG Tech Companies do WHOLE lot of this "Unintentionaly"
Including Apple!!


Source for when Apple used account security customer data for advertising purposes please.
Rating: 15 Votes
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BWhaler
1 week ago
People should go to jail for these lies. No corporate shield. Individual accountability.
Rating: 11 Votes
Avatar
-DMN-
1 week ago
All these BIG Tech Companies do WHOLE lot of this "Unintentionaly"
Including Apple!!
Rating: 9 Votes
Avatar
GeoStructural
1 week ago
Yeah, right.

Rule No. 1: Do not provide your phone number to Social Media sites. Also, use a secondary email address.

I was born January 1, 1900 as far as all my social media is concerned.
Rating: 9 Votes
Avatar
eicca
1 week ago
Whoopsies. Deary me, who would ever do such a thing on purpose? Perish the thought.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
keysofanxiety
1 week ago


Yeah, right.

Rule No. 1: Do not provide your phone number to Social Media sites. Also, use a secondary email address.

I was born January 1, 1900 as far as all my social media is concerned.


What do you use for 2FA?
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
MisterSavage
1 week ago


What do you use for 2FA?


Ideally an app that generates one time passcodes.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
needfx
1 week ago
can you tweet "class action"?
Rating: 3 Votes
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thisisnotmyname
1 week ago
Another reason to dislike any company that requires a phone number or email address to register
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
Virinprew
1 week ago


Nothing these days is private anymore, once you get an internet connection, it is all over........

And even if you disconnect from the internet, your friends and family will post pictures of you for you. There is no escape.
Rating: 3 Votes

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