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Yeah, right.

Rule No. 1: Do not provide your phone number to Social Media sites. Also, use a secondary email address.

I was born January 1, 1900 as far as all my social media is concerned.
It’s a different story when those cancer sites won’t let you use them unless you add your phone number. Especially for 2FA.
 
There probably are ways this could have happened unintentionally. But companies like Twitter, Facebook and modern Google (before they became an ad company) have destroyed their own credibility in these situations. So if it really was unintentional, Twitter need to set out exactly how it happened. And also stop requiring a mobile number for 2FA even when you're using an authenticator app.
 
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Not in the least bit surprised. This is why I don’t use any social media outside of forums. You’re never entirely immune from tracking and the like, but these social media giants are just data sponges preying on people’s wish to tell the world what they had for breakfast.
 
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They are sorry but it's too late because the people affected will have had their data put onto mailing lists immediately and sold to advertisers around the world. Once your personal data is 'leaked' intentional or not, no matter what a company says, it is never removed because it's impossible to do once it's 'out' on the internet.
 
They are sorry but it's too late because the people affected will have had their data put onto mailing lists immediately and sold to advertisers around the world. Once your personal data is 'leaked' intentional or not, no matter what a company says, it is never removed because it's impossible to do once it's 'out' on the internet.


Scarier than thou
 
I wonder if this is a breach of GDPR? Because the fines are getting really big now (and rightly so).
 
Twitter forced me to use my real phone number otherwise they will lock me out of my account, now they are using it for advertising purposes. I am reaching that point where I feel the death of Twitter(as all other social platforms on the web before it) is coming near.

Its infested ground for fake news, advertising, spammers, and now privacy breach. No longer a social connection platform.
 
The apology reads like it was written by Sterling Archer.
 
I wonder if this is a breach of GDPR? Because the fines are getting really big now (and rightly so).
No, it did not. They did not give or sell data to a 3rd party (unlike Facebook).

Personal data was not provided externally with partners or other third parties

They matched (hashed) phone numbers that an advertiser provided for Twitter ads with the (hashed) phone numbers Twitter had stored. So, some people where the (hashed) numbers matched saw targeted advertisement.

Twitter may also personalize ads based on information that Twitter and our affiliates collect and that our ad partners share with us, such as a hashed email address, a mobile device identifier, or browser-related information (a browser cookie ID).
source: https://business.twitter.com/en/help/troubleshooting/how-twitter-ads-work.html

Learn more about targeted advertisement to understand what data is being collected and how marketeers use it to influence us: https://business.twitter.com/en/targeting.html
 
Think again —

- As far as personal info goes, 401k custodians, health insurance companies, and credit bureaus have been hacked.
- Communicate with friends on gmail?
- Have a professional photo on the web? That can be used to facial recognition in all social media archives.
- Visit someone’s house with a listening device?
- Carry a cell phone?

It doesn’t mean intentionally leaving the front door unlocked, though, but to assume your info is private is just being uninformed.

It is possible to maintain privacy but that would mean living off the grid in a way that even the IRS cannot find you.

Yes, I said 'lots of things are still private' which does not change if you point out things that are not.

Know your surroundings. Don't send sensitive anything to anyone on a gmail account and you'll maintain a little bit more privacy.

Also, how does one expect privacy after putting a professional (aka vanity) photo on the web? Duh.

Social media is almost entirely superfluous. Superfluous decisions and their corresponding actions carry consequences. It's not like you weren't warned.

I agree that financial institutions should be held accountable for privacy breaches of their customers. I'll take cash damages and jail sentences for any employee in the chain knowingly leaking data.

Facebook/Google/Twitter do horrible things with regards to privacy, but you giving them personal information is all on you. And those who have uploaded the personal details of their friends willy nilly into these scams, should bare personal and social responsibility for being so careless and hurtful to their friends/family/co-workers. I like the idea of punitive damages for those who've fed my info into Facebook, in addition to any personal and professional sanctions.
 
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