Elon Musk Accused of Undermining Twitter by US Senators, FTC Probe Urged

Seven Democratic senators despatched a letter on Thursday to the Federal Trade Commission, warning that Twitter, now owned by Elon Musk, was appearing in disregard of customers and urging the company to analyze any breach of a consent decree that the FTC inked with Twitter. The lawmakers, together with Senators Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren, requested the company to contemplate enforcement actions towards the corporate and towards particular person executives the place applicable.

“In recent weeks, Twitter’s new Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk, has taken alarming steps that have undermined the integrity and safety of the platform, and announced new features despite clear warnings those changes would be abused for fraud, scams, and dangerous impersonation,” the lawmakers mentioned in a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan.

Neither Twitter nor the FTC instantly responded to requests for remark.

The billionaire’ s first two weeks as Twitter’s proprietor have been marked by speedy change and chaos. He shortly fired Twitter’s earlier CEO and different senior leaders after which laid off half its employees earlier this month.

There have been issues that the upheaval would result in Twitter failing to abide by a May 2022 settlement with the US regulator through which Twitter agreed to enhance its privateness practices and place accountability on individuals who held sure positions.

In a May 2022 settlement with the US regulator, Twitter agreed to enhance its privateness practices and positioned accountability on individuals who held sure positions. But compliance has come into query as Musk pursues speedy launches of options to steer the debt-laden, money-losing firm into profitability. In addition, a number of executives in command of following the orders have stop or been pushed out.

The FTC mentioned final week it was “tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern. No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees.”

© Thomson Reuters 2022