The regulators allege Twitter violated a 2011 FTC order by deceiving users about how well it maintained and protected the privacy of users' data.
Twitter will pay about Rs 11 billion (USD $150 million) penalty and put in new safeguards to settle federal regulators' allegations that the social platform failed to protect the privacy of users' data over a six-year span.
The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission announced the settlement with Twitter on Wednesday. The regulators allege Twitter violated a 2011 FTC order by deceiving users about how well it maintained and protected the privacy and security of their non-public contact information.
"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.
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Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"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."
From May 2013 to September 2019, Twitter told users that it was collecting their phone numbers and email addresses for purposes of account security. But it failed to disclose that it also would use the information to enable companies to send targeted online ads to users on the platform, the government alleged.
The regulators also alleged, in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday, that Twitter falsely claimed that it complied with U.S. Privacy agreements with the European Union and Switzerland, which prohibit companies from processing user information in ways that are at odds with purposes authorized by users.
The $150 million penalty and the required new compliance measures under the settlement must be approved by a federal court in California.
The FTC's 2011 order had alleged serious lapses in Twitter's data security that allowed hackers to gain unauthorized administrative control of Twitter, including access to non-public user information.
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 "Twitter to pay about Rs 11 billion penalty for failing to protect privacy of users’ data")
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