Twitter acknowledged the misuse of users’ personal information.

Twitter acknowledged the misuse of users’ personal information.

Twitter has admitted that they have misused email, address and phone numbers provided by users for advertising purposes. Company sources say that third-party marketers may be able to access users’ personal information on Twitter, even if the user wishes not to include it. Following the news, Twitter issued a statement saying, “We cannot say for sure how many people have been affected by it”. Abnormally, the company did not immediately contact consumers to notify them of the violation. Twitter officials have revealed that they are not sure when the issue occurred, but they did resolve the issue by September 17.

The company said it “does not use phone numbers or email addresses submitted for security purposes for advertising”. Twitter says its subscribers number more than 139 million who are constantly being offered advertising alerts.

In early March, Facebook was strongly criticized for the use of numbers and email addresses presented for verification purposes, but unlike Twitter, Facebook does not consider this to be a mistake.