Twitter Seeks to End FTC Oversight of Data Security Practices
Key Highlights :
Twitter has filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to end the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) oversight of its data security practices that has been in place for years. X Corp., which is Twitter’s corporate name, is seeking to terminate the arrangement that has been in place since 2011 after the FTC found that the platform had “serious lapses” in its data security. This motion comes after Twitter was fined $150 million by the FTC last May for violating the consent order governing its privacy practices.
In the filing, X Corp. argued that the consent order no longer serves “any proper equitable purpose.” It said the FTC has issued 16 demand letters to the company since Elon Musk took over, compared to 28 letters that were sent in the decade before, and wants to depose Musk. Documents described in a congressional report in March revealed that the FTC is investigating Musk’s widespread layoffs at Twitter and seeking to obtain his internal communications as part of the ongoing oversight.
The filing is also requesting a stay to prevent Musk from being deposed. X Corp. stated that it has responded to the FTC’s inquiries and produced more than 22,000 documents to date. However, the FTC’s “overreach” has now culminated in a demand to depose Musk, who is not, and never has been, a party to the consent order.
The FTC increased its attention on Twitter after Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the company. It said in November that it was concerned with how Musk was handling Twitter and was tracking related “developments.” The agency has yet to comment on the filing.
Twitter’s motion to end the FTC’s oversight of its data security practices is an attempt to rein in an investigation that the company believes has become “tainted by bias.” The filing requests the court to terminate the updated consent order that Twitter agreed to along with the fine that required the platform to establish an enhanced privacy program and improved information security. The outcome of this motion could have a significant impact on the future of Twitter and the FTC’s ability to regulate the platform.
