The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Elon Musk’s multiple firings at Twitter and is trying to obtain his internal communications as part of an ongoing review of the social media company’s privacy and cybersecurity practices, according to documents …
WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Elon Musk’s mass layoffs at Twitter and is trying to obtain his internal communications as part of an ongoing review of the social media company’s privacy and cybersecurity practices, according to documents described in a congressional report.
The FTC has been looking at the company for years since Twitter agreed to a 2011 consent decree alleging serious data security breaches. But the agency’s concerns flared up in the turmoil that followed Musk’s Oct. 27 of the company.
The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee published excerpts from the FTC’s letters on Tuesday as part of a report that said the agency was overreaching “to harass Elon Musk’s Twitter.”
The House said the requests amounted to a deluge of “demands about personnel decisions in every department of the company, every internal communication related to Elon Musk and even Twitter interactions of those journalist” that allowed Musk’s team to see some of the employee’s emails and messages.
Those documents are called “The Twitter Files” and are intended to show how the company made content moderation decisions before Musk took over.
In response to the House report, the FTC said, “Protecting consumer privacy is exactly what the FTC should be doing. It’s no surprise that the commission’s career staff is conducting a rigorous investigation into Twitter’s compliance with a consent order that began long before Mr. Musk bought the company.
Twitter already paid a $150 million penalty in May, about five months before Musk was hired, for violating the 2011 consent decree. The updated version establishes new procedures that require the company to implement an improved privacy protection program as well as strengthening information security.
But in November, a group of Democratic senators questioned those commitments and asked the FTC — led by Chair Lina Khan, a Democrat — to investigate any possible violations amid concerns that reports of trouble at Twitter and drastic staff reductions under Musk pose a serious security risk. .
The FTC said at the time that it was “following recent developments at Twitter with deep concern.”