Dump Twitter and Facebook share your mobile number

Twitter admitted in a statement that email addresses and phone numbers collected “for safety or

security purposes (for example, two-factor authentication) may have inadvertently been used for

advertising purposes”.

Twitter would not say how many how many users were affected, but confirmed that advertisers could use the details to target adverts to audience lists provided by third-party partners.

In an era of growing mistrust surrounding social media, Green believes that blurring the lines

between authentication features and marketing is a serious problem.

“Convincing users to adopt 2FA systems means that social networks have to be above reproach when it comes to keeping their data private,”

Although several methods of 2FA, the fact that the vast majority of people carry smartphones

SMS convenient option

Facebook’s behavior is the sort of thing that drives people away from using this very effective protection,and makes them take greater risks online,” Green said.

Rights groups echoed the concerns, reflecting that Facebook had Facebook admitted to committing

he same indiscretion

“Earlier this year,(which users believed to be) provided for the express purpose of2FAboth searchable and target for advertising by default. Disclosing or using information providedfor security purposes for any other purpose, including advertising,is unacceptable.”