The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has requested that Twitter provide internal communications involving owner Elon Musk, along with additional details regarding various business decisions, amid an ongoing investigation into the social media platform. This information was disclosed in a report from two House of Representatives committees.
Since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in October, the FTC has issued more than a dozen letters to the company and its legal representatives. Among its requests, the commission has sought a list of all journalists who were allowed access to company records and information pertaining to the launch of the revamped Twitter Blue subscription service, according to the report.
Moreover, the FTC is seeking to have Musk himself testify as part of its investigation, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
In a tweet, Musk expressed his sentiments, describing the situation as “a shameful case of weaponization of a government agency for political purposes and suppression of the truth!”
Twitter has not yet responded to inquiries from Reuters regarding this matter.
The FTC stated that it is not surprising that its career staff are conducting a thorough investigation into Twitter’s compliance with a consent order that was established prior to Musk’s takeover.
According to a staff report released by the House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, while some of the FTC’s requests are pertinent to the investigation, others are deemed excessive.
“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 rationale for the FTC to require every single internal Twitter communication regarding Elon Musk,” the report highlights.
The commission has also inquired whether Twitter has the necessary resources to comply with the privacy consent decree. This inquiry was spurred last year amidst concerns that mass layoffs at the firm might affect its compliance capabilities.
In May, Twitter reached a settlement with the FTC, agreeing to pay a $150 million fine to address allegations of improperly using private information, while also committing to enhance its compliance practices.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
