After CEO Elon Musk released the infamous “Twitter Files,” news surrounding the platform trailed off. For the most part, things have been relatively quiet in the Twitterverse.

Until this week.

The Federal Trade Commission is suddenly zeroing in on the social media giant, unleashing a grand total of 350 demands, many of which are highly controversial.

Now, both the House and Musk are fighting back — and both are clearly furious.

The FTC has demanded that Musk turn over internal company communications and any info related to the mass layoffs, and they want the CEO to sit for a deposition as part of an overarching investigation.

The Republican-led House immediately reacted. They published a scathing report called, “The Weaponization of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC): An Agency’s Overreach to Harass Elon Musk’s Twitter.”

The chamber’s Judiciary Committee accuses the FTC’s boss, Democrat Lina Khan, of a partisan attack on the social media platform:

Consisting of over a dozen FTC demand letters to Twitter that — in the span of less than three months following Musk’s acquisition — make more than 350 specific demands, this information shows how the FTC has been attempting to harass Twitter and pry into the company’s decisions on matters outside of the FTC’s mandate.

The timing, scope, and frequency of the FTC’s demands to Twitter suggest a partisan motivation to its action.

The report cited several of the FTC’s demands, saying they have “little to no nexus to users’ privacy and information.

For example:

• Information relating to journalists’ work protected by the First Amendment, including their work to expose abuses by Big Tech and the federal government;
• Every single internal communication “relating to Elon Musk,” by any Twitter personnel — including communications sent or received by Musk — not limited by subject matter, since the day Musk bought the company;
• All of the reasons why Twitter terminated former Twitter employee and FBI official Jim Baker;

The House Judiciary’s statement added that “there is no logical reason” why the FTC should need this information.

Why should they get the identities of journalists posting on Twitter? Why should they get to analyze personnel decisions? Why should they be able to scrutinize internal communications with Musk?

For Elon’s part, he replied with a simple hard-hitting statement of his own:

This is a serious attack on the Constitution by a federal agency.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023

Musk has been battling to free Twitter from the shackles of suppression, saying from the start he wanted to make the platform all about freedom of speech.

He also promised to reveal exactly what types of suppression and bias were deeply entrenched within the company, and shed some light on several of Washington’s biggest scandals, from COVID to indoctrination in schools.

So, maybe it’s no surprise that he’s getting heat from the powers that be — they’re not big fans of dissenters.

Key Takeaways:

• The FTC has hit Twitter with 350 separate demands, many of which apparently have little to do with user privacy.
• The House Judiciary Committee published a scathing report, accusing the FTC’s leftist head of a partisan attack.
• CEO Elon Musk called it “a serious attack on the Constitution by a federal agency.”

Source: The Daily Wire

Ben Dutka

Ben S. Dutka is a journalist, writer and editor with over two decades of experience. He has worked with three newspapers and eight online publications, and he has also won a Connecticut short story contest entitled Art as Muse, Imaginary Realms. He has a penchant for writing, rowing, reading, video games, and Objectivism.

Ben S. Dutka is a journalist, writer and editor with over two decades of experience. He has worked with three newspapers and eight online publications, and he has also won a Connecticut short story contest entitled Art as Muse, Imaginary Realms. He has a penchant for writing, rowing, reading, video games, and Objectivism.