September 21, 2023
Elon Musk’s tenure as leader of Twitter is under scrutiny for possible violations of a 2022 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) order that required the company to implement certain privacy and security measures.
Newly published court documents indicate that the FTC believes Musk has created a “chaotic environment” at the company, making it difficult for investigators to do their job. The documents also allege that Musk laid off key privacy personnel and improperly handled server transfers.
The FTC is focusing on Musk’s failure to conduct a required privacy and security review before rolling out the premium “Twitter Blue” subscription service. The court records also indicate that the FTC order may have been violated in Musk’s handling of the “Twitter Files” release of internal information to journalists.
The most solid charge against Musk to date is that he did not conduct a required privacy and security review before launching Twitter Blue. Court documents indicate that Twitter executives have testified to the Department of Justice that this did not happen.
The court documents also outline a collection of other concerns that might turn into violations of the FTC order, pending further investigation. For example, as part of the Twitter Files document dump, Musk reportedly was about to allow at least one of the journalists “unfettered” access to the company’s internal systems. Security staff reportedly had to intervene and control the reporter’s access to specific files and systems.
The sources for this piece include an article in CPOMAGAZINE.
