Twitter is Using Your Phone Number for Ad Targeting

Twitter has admitted to this, also stating that this only happened because of an error that ended up providing phone number data to companies that asked for specific marketing information. However, whether or not this was done intentionally is not the point. Phone numbers should only ever be used for two factor authentication purposes, and this information is supposed to be kept as safe as possible so that users can trust that the platform has their best interests at heart. Since Facebook faced a great deal of criticism and fines for something similar last year, it is very possible that lawmakers and regulators would want to take a look at this. This could potentially be a huge issue for Twitter to overcome, though only time will tell whether or not this is going to have a big impact on its future.