REQUESTS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON DATA COLLECTION AND OTHER PRACTICES

WASHINGTON, MAY 24, 2012 – “I commend Twitter for its commitment to protect consumer privacy and for adopting ‘Do-Not-Track’,” said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), a member of the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus.  “The voluntary approach to ‘Do-Not-Track’ supported by the Federal Trade Commission is a step forward that other companies should follow.  However, there are other questions regarding Twitter’s data collection and other practices.”

Stearns joined Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) also a member of the Privacy Caucus, in sending a letter* to Twitter CEO Dick Costolo.  The letter commends Twitter’s dedication to privacy and seeks additional information on Twitter’s decision to “begin new experiments of highlighting user accounts in a more tailored approach.”

Among the questions submitted to Twitter are:

Twitter will begin to offer tailored suggestions on “who to follow” to current users to allow for easy access to potentially interesting and relevant accounts. How will Twitter implement this function? Will it differ from how new users are targeted?

Twitter announced its support of “Do-Not-Track” and explains that it would honor the request of a user when this function is active.  However, on a mobile device, how does Twitter provide a consumer with the choice to opt-out of being tracked online to provide tailored suggestions to the user? Would Twitter honor the “Do-Not-Track” request of a user across all platforms?

Please describe Twitter’s policies for the deletion of user data after a request has been made. Upon such a request, how long does it take the company to fully delete the information from all of its systems?