FTC Opens Probe Into Twitter — Demands Names of All ‘Twitter Files’ Journalists — Elon Musk Responds

 

The Federal Trade Commission has demanded Twitter Inc. turn over internal 

communications related to owner Elon Musk, as well as detailed information 

about layoffs—citing concerns that staff reductions could compromise the 

company’s ability to protect users, documents viewed by the Wall Street 

Journal show.

In 12 letters sent to Twitter and its lawyers since Mr. Musk’s Oct. 27 takeover, 

the FTC also asked the company to “identify all journalists” granted access to 

company records and to provide information about the launch of the revamped 

Twitter Blue subscription service, the documents show.


The FTC is also seeking to depose Mr. Musk in connection with the probe.

“We are concerned these staff reductions impact Twitter’s ability to protect 

consumers’ information,” an FTC official wrote to Twitter’s lawyers on Nov. 

10 following an initial wave of layoffs, according to a copy of the letter 

viewed by the Journal.

The so-called demand letters were obtained by the Republican-led House 

Judiciary Committee, which published excerpts of them Tuesday in a staff 

report about the FTC’s investigation.

The letters indicate Twitter responded to the FTC, but that the agency as of 

late January felt the company was engaging in a “troubling pattern of 

ongoing delay” that raises “serious concerns about its compliance.”

“Protecting consumers’ privacy is exactly what the FTC is supposed to do,” 

said FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar. He said the agency is “conducting a 

rigorous investigation into Twitter’s compliance with a consent order that

 came into effect long before Mr. Musk purchased the company.”

The FTC routinely seeks information that companies under a consent order 

provide third parties, including journalists, on grounds that the company 

couldn’t withhold that same information from the FTC, Mr. Farrar said.


Twitter didn’t respond to requests for comment. Mr. Musk in a pair of tweets 

called the FTC’s demands for information about journalists “a serious attack 

on the Constitution by a federal agency” and “a shameful case of 

weaponization of a government agency for political purposes and 

suppression of the truth!”

The inquiries by the FTC, which is led by Democrat Lina Khan, follow massive 

layoffs implemented by Mr. Musk that have raised concerns within the agency 

about the ability of the company to comply with a $150 million settlement 

related to alleged privacy violations.

In November, the FTC said its order accompanying the 2022 settlement 

“gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we are prepared to use them…no 

CEO or company is above the law.”

The Judiciary panel’s report, the first by a new subcommittee examining what 

Republicans call “weaponization” of federal agencies, accused the FTC of 

overstepping its authority at the urging of progressive groups unhappy with 

Mr. Musk’s acquisition of the company.

“There is no logical reason, for example, why the FTC needs to know the 

identities of journalists engaging with Twitter,” the report said. “There is no 

logical reason why the FTC, on the basis of user privacy, needs to analyze all 

of Twitter’s personnel decisions. And there is no logical reason why the FTC

 needs every single internal Twitter communication about Elon Musk.”
Elon Musk’s response

Elon Musk responded on Twitter by saying: “A shameful case of weaponization 

of a government agency for political purposes and suppression of the truth!”

https://www.cf.org/news/ftc-opens-probe-into-twitter-demands-names-of-all-twitter-files-journalists-elon-musk-responds/