Deputy Jim Jordan (R-OH), chair of the committee, authorized the subpoena sent to FTC chair Lina Khan, accusing the agency of refusing to comply with a handful of other requests the committee has made in recent months . The demand requires the FTC to turn over all internal communications related to Musk’s October 2022 purchase of Twitter.
In his letter to Khan Wednesday, Jordan accused the FTC of making “improper and burdensome demands” on Musk’s Twitter, calling the agency’s responses to past requests for information “woefully inadequate.”
Shortly after Musk bought Twitter last year, the FTC said it was overseeing the platform’s ability to protect the security of user information. In a recent report, the Jordanian commission found that the FTC had sent at least a dozen demand letters to the company since Musk took over.
“The FTC respects the important role of oversight by Congress. We made multiple offers to inform Chairman Jordan’s staff about our investigation of Twitter. Those are firm offers made prior to this wholly unnecessary subpoena,” FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar said in a statement to The edge Wednesday.
The FTC’s investigation is reportedly focused on the platform’s ability to deliver on data security promises it made to the agency more than 10 years ago. In 2011, Twitter reached an agreement with the FTC to settle allegations that the company had mishandled user data, ultimately allowing hackers unauthorized access to user accounts. As part of that agreement, Twitter was required to create a “comprehensive privacy and information security program” to protect users.
