Twitter Beats Appeal in Privacy Class Action Over Phone Numbers

A proposed class action alleging then-Twitter Inc. unlawfully sold phone numbers of its users to third parties was properly dismissed, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.

Glen Morgan failed to state a claim under a Washington telecommunications statute since the law “prohibits the fraudulent collection of telephone records, not numbers,” the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said in an unpublished opinion affirming a lower court’s 2023 dismissal of the suit. Morgan sought to represent all Washington residents who provided their number to Twitter.

• The purpose of the statute is to protect “difficult-to-obtain, nonpublic information about a customer’s ...