Twitter Knew It Was Violating Privacy Rules, Plaintiffs Say

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The plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit accusing a host of app developers and Apple Inc. of improperly harvesting user data without permission argued that Twitter knowingly violated their privacy because it only began asking permission to access users’ address books after public outcry over the practice.

In 2012, lead plaintiffs alleged that the privacy of those who used Apple devices, including iPhones and iPads, to store contact information was violated by a number of application developers who harvested the information secretly without users’ permission.

The original class action was dismissed, except for one claim, by U.S. District Court Judge Jon S. Tigar in 2014.

The plaintiffs subsequently filed an amended complaint and received partial certification of the Class.

In June of this year, Twitter argued that the claim against them should be dismissed because Twitter claims it informed and obtained permission from users to access their address books.

Twitter users shot back in a motion filed last week, alleging that Twitter’s own evidence established that the app did not obtain permission to access and store users’ information prior to 2012.

According to the motion, versions of the Twitter app prior to 2012 only asked permission to “scan” users’ information not “take it.”

“Twitter made no effort to obtain consent to upload users’ contacts until, in the wake of public outcry over this misconduct, Apple concluded that Twitter was violating user privacy and required it to change the Twitter app to disclose the upload,” argue that plaintiffs in their motion.

According to the plaintiffs, the reason why Twitter began asking permission to access and store users’ information after public backlash about the practice were not addressed adequately by Twitter in their motion to dismiss the class action lawsuit.

Additionally, the plaintiffs point out that a screen on the app called “Find Friends” “concealed from users that their contacts would be uploaded.”

The plaintiffs also argue that Twitter misrepresented what would happen to the data it accessed and, thus, any consent was invalidated.

Further, the plaintiffs say that even if users’ consent was considered valid, it was limited to “Twitter accessing their contacts data for a limited and exclusive purpose: to scan them.”

“Because Twitter accessed their data to do something entirely different — to upload it to its servers and store it — Twitter’s accessing, as a whole, was invalid and nonconsensual,” concluded the plaintiffs in their motion opposing the dismissal of the class action lawsuit.

In addition to Twitter, the defendant moving to dismiss class action claims against it, other defendants named in this privacy class action lawsuit include Instagram Inc., Path Inc., Yelp Inc., and Apple.

The consumers are represented by David M. Given, Nicholas A. Carlin and Conor H. Kennedy of Phillips Erlewine Given & Carlin LLP, Michael Von Loewenfeldt, James M. Wagstaffe and Frank Busch of Kerr & Wagstaffe LLP, and Carl F. Schwenker.

The Twitter Privacy Class Action Lawsuit is Marc Opperman, et al. v. Path Inc., et al., Case No. 3:13-cv-00453, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Sept. 9, 2016, Yelp will continue to face a privacy rights class action lawsuit alleging it made unauthorized use of users’ address book data, following a federal judge’s denial of the company’s motion for summary judgment.

UPDATE 2: On April 3, 2017, several app companies, including Twitter, Yelp, and Instagram, asked a federal judge to sign off on a $5.3 million preliminary settlement deal that would resolve a mobile app privacy class action lawsuit.

UPDATE 3: The Twitter, Instagram, Yelp App Privacy Class Action Settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim. 

UPDATE 4: On June 6, 2018, Top Class Actions viewers started receivingchecks in the mailworth as much as $94.55 from a class action settlement over alleged privacy violations by developers of certain apps available on the iOS mobile app. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!