Elon Musk has accused the Biden administration of “arming” the FTC into investigating his takeover of Twitter, while the Democratic-led agency demanded he hand over private information about the company.
The report comes two months after a whistleblower to the FTC claimed that an internal tool used by hackers to tweet from high-profile accounts during the site’s massive 2020 security breach is still available to all of the company’s engineers. .
The FTC — led by Biden appointee Lina Khan — asked Twitter Inc to turn over internal communications related to Musk, detailed information about layoffs and other business decisions as part of an investigation into the social media company.
The organization has sent 12 letters to Twitter and its lawyers since Musk’s acquisition in October.
It also asked the company to “identify all journalists” who have been given access to company data and to provide information about the launch of the revamped Twitter Blue subscription service, the report said.
The FTC is also seeking Musk to testify in connection with the probe, the WSJ reported.
Elon Musk has accused the Biden administration of “arming” the FTC to investigate his takeover of Twitter as the Dem-led agency demanded he hand over private information about the company
Elon Musk has already tweeted about the investigation in response to a post about it by journalist Michael Shellenberger.
“A shameful case of arming a government agency for political purposes and suppression of the truth!” wrote Musk.
He responded to another tweet about the investigation, saying, “This is a serious attack on the Constitution by a federal agency.”
Twitter did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. The FTC said it had no direct comment.
The House Judiciary Committee and Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government staff report said that while some of what the FTC requested was relevant to its investigation regarding Twitter, other elements went too far.
“There is no logical reason why the FTC should analyze all of Twitter’s personnel decisions based on user privacy. And there is no logical reason why the FTC needs any internal Twitter communication about Elon Musk,” the report said.
The agency has asked Twitter if it has the necessary resources to comply with the privacy consent decision, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters last year.
One of the FTC’s concerns was whether Twitter had the staff necessary to comply with a May 2022 settlement with the US regulator in which it agreed to improve its privacy practices and place the responsibility on people who held certain positions. .
The Federal Trade Commission — led by Biden appointee Lina Khan (pictured) — asked Twitter Inc to turn over internal communications related to owner Elon Musk, detailed information about layoffs, and other business decisions as part of an investigation into the social media company
The FTC has sent 12 letters to Twitter and its lawyers since Musk’s acquisition in October
The concerns were prompted by mass layoffs at the company.
Twitter in May agreed to pay a $150 million fine to settle allegations it misused private information and also improve its compliance practices.
A complaint was reportedly filed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in January, which coincides with previous allegations made by the company’s fired head of security, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko.
Twitter GodMode — an internal tool used by hackers to tweet from high-profile accounts during the site’s massive 2020 security breach — is still available to all of the company’s engineers, a whistleblower has claimed.
When activated, the program in question, referred to as “GodMode” by staffers for its outsized power, will allow any engineer at the company to tweet from any account as they see fit.
The program’s existence came to light in July 2020 following a high-profile hack that compromised a large number of high-profile accounts, masterminded by then 17-year-old Graham Clark.
There seems to be a consistent cycle of drama coming out of Twitter’s Silicon Valley headquarters since Musk bought the app.
Twitter employees yesterday claimed that Elon Musk is accompanied everywhere by two bodyguards when he is at work.
‘Sam’, a former Twitter engineer, told BBC’s Panorama reports that the new self-proclaimed ‘Chief Twit’ is followed by ‘at least two bodyguards – very bulky, tall Hollywood movie style bodyguards, even when he goes to the toilet’.
He said he believes Musk doesn’t trust his Twitter employees, gets Tesla engineers involved and asks them to evaluate the coding for a few days before deciding who to fire.
Sam said waves of layoffs — with as many as 70% of Twitter’s workforce losing their jobs since October — have led to “so many broken things” with “no one taking care of it.”
He said, “For someone on the inside, it’s like a building where all the pieces are on fire.”
Elon Musk is pictured leaving the Phillip Burton Federal Building with a bodyguard on Jan. 24
Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco, which has seen massive layoffs in recent months
Twitter has seen significant workforce reductions in recent months, prompting employees to either embrace or leave the “hardcore” lifestyle of what Musk calls Twitter 2.0.
Nearly half of the workforce was laid off in November, days after Musk bought the company and took the top spot.
But the company made headlines again when it laid off another 200 in February, including senior staff who appeared to support the new direction late last year.
Yesterday, a designer got into a fight with Musk on Twitter after being denied access to his work accounts for nine days.
Musk questioned him about the work he did for the company, and after the designer provided a list, he received an email saying he had been fired.
The Twitter chief claimed earlier today on the public forum that his former team member “didn’t do any real work, claiming as his excuse that he had a disability that prevented him from typing, but at the same time he was tweeting up a storm.”
Staff cuts have reportedly made it difficult for Twitter’s team to maintain the site.
The social network had four widespread outages in February, nearly half of the nine recorded throughout 2022.
Most recent site cut out on Monday.
Earlier that day, Musk snapped back at the BBC Panorama report based on the testimony of ex-staff and academic research that showed Twitter’s team was unable to protect users from state-coordinated disinformation, trolling and sexual exploitation of children.
Research showed that since the acquisition there was a 69% increase in new accounts after misogynistic and abusive profiles.
The findings were due to changes to features on the website as well as staff reductions, they gathered.
Elon Musk tweets a photo of himself the day before the conclusion of his Twitter buyout
The CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter, who was briefly the richest man in the world again at the end of February, would have an extensive security detail.
According to his father, Musk has a team of “100guards for his protection.
In January, a video went viral of Musk leaving a San Francisco trial surrounded by men in suits guarding him as he climbs into a Tesla.
No official details about the team have been published – as usual.
