Description
The Federal Trade Commission is investigating the mass firings of Elon Musk's Twitter and is seeking to obtain his internal communications as part of ongoing oversight of the social media company's privacy and cybersecurity practices, according to documents described in a report by the Congress. The FTC has been monitoring the company for years since Twitter accepted a consent order in 2011 alleging serious data security breaches. But the agency's concerns grew with the uproar that followed Musk's Oct. 27 takeover of the company. The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday released excerpts from the FTC's letters as part of a report alleging the agency went too far "to harass Elon Musk's Twitter."
The Chamber said the requests amounted to a deluge of "inquiries about his personnel decisions across all departments of the company, all internal communications related to Elon Musk, and even Twitter interactions with reporters," the Chamber said. Musk's team allowed viewing of certain emails. and messages from employees.
These documents were dubbed "The Twitter Files" and were meant to show how the company made decisions to moderate content before Musk took over.
In response to the House report, the FTC said: “Protecting consumer privacy is exactly what the FTC is supposed to do. Not surprisingly, the commission's career staff is conducting a rigorous investigation into Twitter's compliance with a consent order that went into effect long before Musk bought the company.
Twitter had already paid a $150 million fine in May, some five months before the Musk acquisition, for violating the 2011 consent order. An updated version established new procedures that required the company to implement an enhanced privacy program. and improve information security.
But in November, a group of Democratic senators questioned those commitments and asked the FTC, led by Democratic Chair Lina Khan, to investigate possible violations, fearing that reports about the Twitter mess and the drastic reduction in staff under Musk do represent serious security. risks .
The FTC said at the time that it was "following recent developments on Twitter with deep concern."
