Twitter Inc. asked a federal court in California Thursday to terminate or pare back an order that requires the Federal Trade Commission to oversee the company’s privacy practices.
(Bloomberg) — Twitter Inc. asked a federal court in California Thursday to terminate or pare back an order that requires the Federal Trade Commission to oversee the company’s privacy practices.
Twitter’s lawyers wrote that the FTC intensified an investigation into Twitter once billionaire Elon Musk bought the platform last March, opening up an investigation into the company that “has spiraled out of control and become tainted by bias.”
Twitter in the filing said the FTC has “pummeled” the company with “burdensome letters and requests for depositions,” issuing demands for information as frequently as one letter every other week. The FTC sought to depose Musk on July 25, according to the filing, but FTC Chair Lina Khan declined to meet with him personally until Twitter complied with the information requests.
An employee of Ernst & Young, the consulting firm brought in to assess Twitter’s privacy practices, said in a deposition he believed the agency was “trying to influence the outcome of the engagement before it had started,” according to the filing.
The FTC had no comment Thursday about Twitter’s request.
Several hours after Twitter filed the complaint, Khan testified before the House Judiciary Committee, which is led by Republicans who grilled her over her leadership of the antitrust and consumer protection agency.
House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, said Khan and the FTC had engaged in “targeted harassment of Twitter.” The Republicans on the committee earlier this year subpoenaed documents from Khan related to its ongoing probe of Twitter, arguing the agency’s investigation amounted to an “abuse of its statutory authorities.”
Khan defended the agency’s right to probe Twitter, pointing out that the company has previously violated privacy rules. “Twitter today has access to personal sensitive information,” Khan said. “Whenever we have repeat offenders at the agency, we are thinking about what we can do to prevent repeat violations.”
Twitter is currently under a consent decree with the FTC, meaning the agency is overseeing the company’s privacy practices. The FTC deepened its investigation into Twitter after Musk fired thousands of employees, some of whom were charged with protecting privacy and security on Twitter.
The FTC has insisted it is doing its job to protect Americans’ privacy. Some Democrats during the hearing on Thursday defended the agency’s work.
“Protecting user privacy is not political,” said New York Democrat Jerrold Nadler, the top Democrat on the committee.
–With assistance from Jef Feeley.
(Updates with details about hearing starting from fifth paragraph.)
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