rt.com 8 Mar, 2023 20:51
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US government demands information from Elon Musk
Republicans say the Biden administration is harassing the Twitter CEO for political reasons
FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala in New York, May 2, 2022 Ā© AFP / Dimitrios Kambouris
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent more than a dozen letters to Twitter following Elon Muskās takeover of the company, including demands that he turn over the names of journalists he gave internal documents to, according to a report published by Congressional Republicans on Tuesday.
In the three months after Musk took ownership of Twitter in October, the FTC sent more than a dozen letters containing over 350 specific demands for information, the report by the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee stated.
In its first letter after Musk began releasing details of Twitterās prior collaboration with the White House and US intelligence agencies, the FTC demanded that the company
āidentify all journalists and other members of the mediaā who had been granted access to internal documents.
Other letters asked Twitter to hand over all internal communications
ārelating to Elon Musk,ā and demanded that Musk explain why
Jim Baker ā a former FBI general counsel who helped Twitter censor the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020 ā was fired after the billionaireās takeover.
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āThe timing, scope, and frequency of the FTCās demands to Twitter suggest a partisan motivation to its action,ā the committee wrote.
āThere is no logical reason ā¦ why the FTC needs to know the identities of journalists engaging with Twitter. There is no logical reason why the FTC, on the basis of user privacy, needs to analyze all of Twitterās personnel decisions. And there is no logical reason why the FTC needs every single internal Twitter communication about Elon Musk.ā
In a tweet on Tuesday, Musk
called the request for information on reporters
āa serious attack on the Constitution by a federal agency.ā
The FTC announced its Twitter probe in November, stating that it was
ātracking recent developmentsā at the platform
āwith deep concern.ā The investigation is ostensibly aimed at investigating whether Muskās layoffs ā which saw Twitterās workforce cut by around three quarters ā could have jeopardized usersā privacy or security.
www.nu.nl
