{"id":23467,"date":"2022-12-14T18:32:20","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T18:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/twitters-big-ad-plan-violate-ftc-consent-decree-california-privacy-law-eu-privacy-laws-to-force-users-to-hand-over-info-for-ad-targeting\/"},"modified":"2022-12-14T18:32:20","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T18:32:20","slug":"twitters-big-ad-plan-violate-ftc-consent-decree-california-privacy-law-eu-privacy-laws-to-force-users-to-hand-over-info-for-ad-targeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/twitters-big-ad-plan-violate-ftc-consent-decree-california-privacy-law-eu-privacy-laws-to-force-users-to-hand-over-info-for-ad-targeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Twitter\u2019s Big Ad Plan: Violate FTC Consent Decree, California Privacy Law & EU Privacy Laws To Force Users To Hand Over Info For Ad Targeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

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from the trashing-your-privacy-for-profit<\/i> dept<\/h3>\n

The good folks over at Platformer broke the news that Twitter is experimenting with Elon\u2019s desperate attempt to make money: forcing people to \u201copt-in\u201d to share personal info<\/a> so they can better target ads. And, yes, there\u2019s a contradiction between \u201cforce\u201d and \u201copt-in.\u201d<\/p>\n

As everyone already knows, Elon is desperate for revenue, seeing as he took on $13 billion in debt (incredibly, as a margin loan<\/a>!) and has massive interest payments to make. Yet his own actions have caused many advertisers to abandon the platform<\/a>, likely driving him further into a hole. And, so far, his only big product idea has been the disastrous rollout of the new Twitter Blue program, for which he\u2019s charging $8\/month ($11 if you buy via iOS to cover Apple\u2019s vig), whose main selling point is that you get a blue checkmark\u2026 causing people to mock you for \u201cpaying for Twitter.\u201d <\/p>\n

One of the other big selling points is \u201chalf the ads.\u201d Which\u2026 first of all, it\u2019s not at all clear how they would measure this. Many people are asking for no ads at all, and Musk has said that maybe in the future they\u2019ll offer a higher tier with no ads. But it\u2019s tricky. Because, at least in the US, the company was making in the range of $10 \u2013 $14\/month per user on advertising. So, if you get them to pay $8 (minus transaction fees) and you take out half the ads, then you might actually be decreasing<\/em> rather than increasing actual revenue.<\/p>\n

That takes us to the new report from Platformer, which makes it clear that Elon\u2019s Twitter is trying to figure out how to increase the amount of money they make per ad, and wants to do that with better targeting of those ads. Of course, right now, that\u2019s\u2026 trickier than it might have been at any time in the past. Between EU data protection laws, California\u2019s privacy laws, and other crackdowns on tracking (such as Apple completely kneecapping<\/a> Meta\u2019s access to private info for ad tracking) it seems that traditionally targeted ads are on the way out.<\/p>\n

It appears that Musk\u2019s solution to this is to force people to cough up their private info<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Twitter\u2019s solution: require users to opt in to personalized ads and share their location information, or risk losing access to the service. The company is developing plans to prompt existing users to opt in to personalized ads and will make it the default for new users, according to plans shared with\u00a0Platformer.<\/em><\/p>\n

Once users have agreed, they won\u2019t ever be able to opt out<\/strong>, sources said.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So\u2026 that seems like the kind of thing that EU and California privacy law enforcers are not going to like. It also seems like the kind of thing that users aren\u2019t going to like and may drive even more away from the service. Remember how AT&T once tried to charge users for privacy<\/a>? That doesn\u2019t fly any more. If you don\u2019t have a clear need<\/em> for this info, you don\u2019t get to force users to hand over the data. And I don\u2019t think \u201chelping the world\u2019s second richest man<\/a> have less regret for his stupidly impulsive purchase\u201d qualifies as a need.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s more. According to Platformer, Twitter is also planning on using phone numbers that people provided for two factor authentication for marketing purposes.<\/p>\n

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The company is also considering forcing users to share their location, let Twitter share their data with its business partners, and use contact data phone numbers used in two-factor authentication for ad targeting purposes.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Except, um, as we\u2019ve been saying, it was just back in May of this year that Twitter was fined $150 million<\/a> by the FTC for\u2026 doing exactly this. And using 2FA phone numbers for marketing was a big part of the FTC\u2019s $5 billion fine<\/a> against Meta. We already wondered if Twitter folks remembered<\/a> the consent decree that it had with the FTC, but it\u2019s worth noting that the company signed that new consent decree in May specifically around this kind of thing, and I don\u2019t think the FTC will look too kindly on Twitter turning around and doing the same thing after forcing people to \u201copt-in.\u201d <\/p>\n

According to the new consent decree<\/a>, Twitter has to provide multi-factor authentication tools that do not require providing a phone number. It sounds like Musk\u2019s plans go against that. There is also a big long list of requirements for launching any new program like this to avoid the data being misused, and I don\u2019t see how Twitter is going to make that work, when the whole point of this seems to be to abuse this data.<\/p>\n

And none of that is even getting to how this almost certainly violates California\u2019s new privacy laws, which put limits on the purpose for which an internet company collects private information from users.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Musk thinks Twitter can just ignore all the laws and somehow push through, but that seems like a pretty big task. And while I\u2019m sure plenty of users won\u2019t realize that the company is demanding they hand over their private info and just click \u201cokay\u201d and move forward, it seems that at least a decent segment of the more informed populace will opt-out the only way they can: by no longer using Twitter.<\/p>\n

\nFiled Under: ads<\/a>, elon musk<\/a>, location info<\/a>, phone numbers<\/a>, privacy<\/a>, tracking<\/a>, two factor authentication<\/a>
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Companies: twitter<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n