Twitter faces FTC fine of up to $250 million over alleged privacy breach
03 August 2020
The Federal Trade Commission has accused Twitter of using phone numbers and emails from its users to make targeted ads between 2013 and 2019, Twitter said in an SEC filing published Monday.
Why it matters: Twitter estimates that the FTC's draft complaint, which was sent a few days after its Q2 report, could cost the company between $150 million and $250 million. The complaint is unrelated to the recent Twitter hack involving a bitcoin scam.
- A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment when asked if the company was denying the FTC's allegations, and said the company had followed standard accounting rules to estimate the settlement.
- Twitter received the FTC's complaint on July 28.
The backdrop: The FTC is alleging that Twitter violated its 2011 agreement to stop misleading consumers about how it protects user privacy.
- In October, Twitter said it had "unintentionally" used some email addresses and phone numbers for advertising even though the information was provided for account security, like two-factor authentication.
- Twitter declined to comment on the October announcement.
Go deeper: Twitter's big hack bares broad dangers
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.