Jordan, Cruz Claim FTC Harassed Twitter After Musk Deal
The FTC’s “harassment” of Twitter after Elon Musk’s buy of the platform raises concerns about agency conduct, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote FTC Chair Lina Khan Friday. They…
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cited a report from the House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government, a newly created panel under House Republican leadership. Democrats unduly influenced the agency after the Musk purchase, the lawmakers wrote: This included pressure from seven Senate Democrats urging the agency to investigate “any breach of Twitter's consent decree or violation of our consumer protection laws.” They were referring to two data breaches at Twitter in 2009, which resulted in a 2011 consent decree. Twitter was hacked in July 2020 (see 2007160074), and the company’s data privacy practices came under scrutiny again in September (see 2209200075). The subcommittee report “revealed how FTC harassed Twitter in wake of Mr. Musk's acquisition, demanding among other things the identities of the journalists with whom it was engaging and all communications relating to Mr. Musk,” the letter said. The agency confirmed receiving the letter but declined comment.