Sen. Ed Markey Tells Elon Musk to Fix Twitter, or Congress Will

Although at instances it looks as if nobody can cease Twitter proprietor Elon Musk from doing no matter he desires with the platform, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey lately reminded the billionaire that there’s nonetheless one thing known as “laws,” telling him on Sunday to repair his firms “or Congress will.”

Markey’s beef with Musk started final Friday, when the Democratic senator tweeted on the billionaire and knowledgeable him {that a} Washington Post reporter was capable of create a verified account that impersonated him. The senator hooked up a letter asking Musk to clarify how this had occurred and to handle the chaos happening with impersonation and Twitter’s paid blue test marks. In the letter, Markey mentioned the billionare had till Nov. 25 to answer his questions in writing.

Musk, as everybody is aware of, doesn’t take criticism too effectively, and determined to mess with Markey as an alternative of addressing the senator’s considerations.

“Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?” Musk tweeted at Markey early Sunday. “And why does your [profile picture] have a mask!?”

Markey didn’t reply effectively to Musk’s trolling and proceeded to level out among the many issues his firms are in.

“One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people,” the senator tweeted at Musk on Sunday. “And you’re spending your time picking fights online. Fix your companies. Or Congress will.”

Ouch. What a burn.

Although selecting fights on-line appears to be ingrained in Musk’s DNA, it in all probability wasn’t a wise transfer to choose a struggle with a senator that occurs to take a seat on loads of committees that oversee his firms. Markey sits on the Senate’s Commerce, Transportation, and Finance Committee and is a part of many subcommittees which oversee Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX.

Notably, Markey isn’t the one authorities official being attentive to Musk. Last week, following the resignation of Twitter’s CISO, its chief privateness officer, and its chief compliance officer, the Federal Trade Commission stated that it was monitoring the latest developments at Twitter “with deep concern.”

“No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees,” an FTC spokesperson mentioned, as reported by CNBC and other outlets. “Our revised consent order gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we are prepared to use them.”

Twitter is presently below two FTC consent decrees for violating customers’ privateness and safety lately. In May, the FTC fined the corporate $150 million for violating a consent decree from 2011 that forbade the corporate from utilizing data it collected from customers within the identify of safety for promoting functions. As a part of a brand new deal between Twitter and the FTC, the company will preserve an in depth eye Twitter’s privateness and safety practices for the following 20 years.

If Twitter breaches its agreements with the FTC, it dangers paying billions in fines.