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Twitter admits privacy breach, users hit by targeted ads
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IANS | 09 Oct, 2019
In yet another privacy breach, Twitter has admitted that its users who
provided email addresses or phone numbers for better security like
two-factor authentication (2FA) on the platform were served with
targeted ads
The personal data "may have inadvertently been used
for advertising purposes, specifically in our Tailored Audiences and
Partner Audiences advertising system," the micro-blogging platform said
in a statement late Tuesday.
Twitter does not know how many of
its users were impacted by this. It has 139 million average monetizable
daily active users (mDAUs) as of Q2, 2019.
"We're very sorry this happened and are taking steps to make sure we don't make a mistake like this again," said the company.
Two-factor
authentication adds an additional layer of security to the
authentication process by making it harder for hackers to gain access to
your accounts.
"Tailored Audiences" is a version of an
industry-standard product that allows advertisers to target ads to
customers based on the advertiser's own marketing lists (like email
addresses or phone numbers they have compiled).
"Partner
Audiences" allows advertisers to use the same "Tailored Audiences"
features to target ads to audiences provided by third-party partners.
"When
an advertiser uploaded their marketing list, we may have matched people
on Twitter to their list based on the email or phone number the Twitter
account holder provided for safety and security purposes. This was an
error and we apologize," said Twitter.
The company, however, claimed no personal data was ever shared externally with its partners or any other third parties.
"We
have addressed the issue that allowed this to occur and are no longer
using phone numbers or email addresses collected for safety or security
purposes for advertising," Twitter added.
It's the latest in a series of security lapses at Twitter in the past year.
Last
year, the micro-blogging platform asked its 336 million users to change
their passwords across its services after it discovered a bug that
stored passwords in plain text in an internal system.
Hackers in
August this year broke into Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's account and
posted a flurry of rogue tweets, including racial slurs.
The
micro-blogging platform said that it secured Dorsey's account which
became victim of 'SIM swapping' or 'SIM jacking' where a mobile number
is transferred to a new SIM card.
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