Twitter to Pay $150 Million for Violating User Data Privacy in Settlement With FTC and DOJ

Musk was accused of making false statements and engaging in market manipulation by Twitter shareholders. On Monday, Musk accused Twitter of “actively resisting” his purported efforts to find out how much of its user base is made up of spam-bots – claiming in a letter the Tesla CEO sent to Twitter that this could be grounds for terminating the purchase agreement.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorElon Musk may be about to get more data from Twitter than he knows what to do with.Twitter’s board of directors, after resisting Musk’s demands for data backing up its claims about spam and bot accounts representing less than 5% of daily active users, has decided to change course, the Washington Post reported, citing an anonymous source “familiar with the company’s thinking.”Musk this week threatened to call off his $44 billion offer to acquire Twitter over the issue; in a letter to the company, his lawyers said Twitter’s refusal to provide data about spam and fake accounts represented a “material breach” of their agreement.Now, in an effort to close the deal, Twitter will offer Musk and his team access to its full “firehose” of raw data from the social platform, which includes 500 million-plus tweets posted daily, as early as this week, the Post reported. When Musk inked the deal in April to buy Twitter, he waived his right to conduct deep due diligence on the company’s operations.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorA new study estimates that upwards of 10% of Twitter active accounts post spam content — double the company’s own claims.The report from U.K.-based data analytics and consulting firm GlobalData comes as Elon Musk, the billionaire Twitter power-user, has threatened to nix his $44 billion deal for the social network over the question of the prevalence of spam and fake accounts on Twitter. On Monday, Musk’s lawyers sent a letter to Twitter alleging the company was in “clear material breach” of the acquisition agreement because Twitter has refused to furnish information backing up its claim that fake/spam accounts represent less than 5% of daily active users.A Twitter rep declined to comment.

In his latest attack on Twitter, delivered via a letter from his lawyer, Elon Musk accused the company of “refusing to comply” with his requests about bots and other issues, and threatened to pull his $44 billion takeover offer.

Amber Heard is going to appeal the verdict from Johnny Depp’s defamation case against her. “Absolutely,” Heard’s attorney, Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, told 's Savannah Guthrie on Thursday when asked if her client plans to appeal Wednesday’s verdict. “And she has some excellent grounds for it. We even had tried to get the U.K.

Superheroes aren’t the only ones making an impact at the box office. According to Deadline, "Top Gun: Maverick" is ranking $150 million over four days – the best opening for the film’s lead Tom Cruise. Comscore shared that over Memorial Day weekend, the "Top Gun" sequel now takes the place of the highest grossing movie over the holiday weekend.

Industry estimates currently project a $142.5 million 4-day opening weekend from 4,735 theaters for “Top Gun: Maverick,” while Paramount is estimating $150 million. If it can push past $153 million, “Maverick” will break a Memorial Day opening record that has been held for 15 years by Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.” Paramount is also projecting a 3-day opening of $123 million, which would pass Marvel’s “Iron Man 2” as Paramount’s biggest opening weekend of all time.

J. Kim Murphy At long last, Tom Cruise is entering the $100 million opening club.Playing in 4,735 locations, the widest theatrical release in domestic box office history, “Top Gun: Maverick” is projected to earn $150 million over the holiday weekend. On a three-day scale, Paramount is predicting a $123 million haul.

Amber Heard got emotional on Wednesday as her defamation trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp continued.

Twitter has agreed to pay a $150 million to the Federal Trade Commission for what its chief privacy officer Damien Kieran called “a privacy incident” when email addresses and phone numbers users provided for account security purposes “may have been inadvertently used for advertising.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorThe Federal Trade Commission levied a $150 million fine on Twitter, alleging that the social network profited by allowing advertisers to use private data to target specific users.According to the agency, Twitter violated a 2011 FTC order that “explicitly prohibited” the company from misrepresenting its privacy and security practices. In addition to the $150 million fine, Twitter is banned from “profiting from its deceptively collected data,” the FTC said.In August 2020, Twitter disclosed that it expected to face an FTC fine of $150 million to $250 million related to the allegations.In a blog post, Twitter chief privacy officer Damien Kieran wrote, “Keeping data secure and respecting privacy is something we take extremely seriously, and we have cooperated with the FTC every step of the way.

Vangelis in Paris, France, at 79, Tesla founder Elon Musk decided to pay an emotional tribute to the “sweet maestro” known for his work in ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Chariots of Fire.’Vangelis, full name Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou, died of heart failure, as it was confirmed by his assistant Lefteris Zermas. The Academy Award winner was recognized for his successful career, including ‘Alexander,’ ‘The Bounty,’ and ‘1492: Conquest of Paradise.’“Good night, sweet maestro, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest,” Elon wrote following the sad announcement. Many of his fellow composers, musicians and friends also commented on the news, including ‘The Walking Dead’ composer Bear McCreary.“Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner were among the most innovative and influential scores in the history of the medium.

Elon Musk says his deal to buy Twitter can't move forward unless the company shows public proof that less than five percent of the accounts on the social media platform are fake or spam.Musk made the comment in a reply to another user on Twitter early Tuesday. He spent much of the previous day in a back-and-forth with Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, who posted a series of tweets explaining his company's effort to fight bots and how it has consistently estimated that less than five percent of Twitter accounts are fake.In his tweet Tuesday, Musk said that «Twenty percent fake/spam accounts, while four times what Twitter claims, could be much higher.

Elon Musk said overnight that his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter can’t move ahead unless the company backs up statements about the number of fake accounts on the platform, which the company has put at under 5%.

Elon Musk said Friday that his planned $44 billion purchase of Twitter is «temporarily on hold» pending details on spam and fake accounts on the social media platform, another twist amid signs of internal turmoil over the proposed acquisition.In a tweet, the Tesla billionaire linked to a Reuters story from May 2 citing a financial filing from Twitter that estimated false or spam accounts made up fewer than 5% of the company's «monetizable daily active users» in the first quarter.«Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,» Musk said, indicating he's skeptical that the number of inauthentic accounts is that low.A short time later on Friday morning, Musk tweeted that he remains committed to the purchase. Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of usershttps://t.co/Y2t0QMuuynIt wasn't clear whether the issue could scuttle the deal. Shares of both Twitter and Tesla swung sharply in opposite directions, with Twitter's stock tumbling 17% to $37.20 before trading opened in the U.S, and Tesla, which Musk had proposed using to help fund the Twitter deal, jumping 5%.

Naman Ramachandran The Twitter deal is temporarily on hold, billionaire Elon Musk posted on Friday.“Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” Musk posted on Twitter.Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of usershttps://t.co/Y2t0QMuuyn— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2022In the tweet, Musk provided a link to a May 2 Reuters article quoting Twitter’s filing on Monday. “Twitter Inc estimated in a filing on Monday that false or spam accounts represented fewer than 5% of its monetizable daily active users during the first quarter,” the Reuters piece said.Musk has been vocal about cleaning the platform of spam bots.