In the News
Another social media platform has admitted to data misuse. In Twitter Uses Phone Numbers, Emails to Sell Ads, Elizabeth Montanbalo at Threatpost discusses Twitter’s misuse of user emails and phone numbers for ad targeting purposes when the user information was only shared with Twitter for additional security purposes. Montanbalo explains that Twitter used this personal information in partnership with advertising lists to create targeted ads. Montanbalo furthers that twitter is unaware of how many of its users were targeted by ads based off of their misused personal data.
Our Take
Data misuse has been an unfortunately recurring instance in society in the past few years. There have been some scandals much more significant than others, but regardless of the size and scope of data misuse, the event that it occurs has caused increasing mistrust from consumers. Twitter’s most recent data misuse involving phone numbers and email addresses is another instance of a large, popular social media platform failing to protect the privacy of its consumers. Not only did the company misuse consumer data, but the data that was misused was explicitly provided to increase consumer security and privacy when in reality, the opposite occurred. Yes, it is true that marketing and ad targeting can improve the user experience. However, this should never come at the detriment of a consumer’s privacy and consent. Hopefully, Twitter releases additional information into why this incident occurred and how many of its consumers were impacted soon.
Recommendations
How can you protect the privacy of your personal information while using social media platforms?
- Understand the risks of putting your personal information into the world, and only share what you have to
- Avoid clicking directly on links, whether in email or social media – always search through your search engine to verify legitimacy and find the appropriate site
- Know your rights when it comes to data use and storage on all platforms
- Stay up to date on the news regarding recent data breaches and exposures to see if you may have been affected