The US Federal Commerce Fee has requested Twitter to show over inside communications associated to Elon Musk, together with details about current layoffs, with a concentrate on how the employees reductions on the social media firm may have an effect on its means to guard customers, The Wall Road Journal reported Tuesday.
The FTC has additionally requested Twitter to “establish all journalists” given entry to firm data and to offer details about the launch of the overhauled Twitter Blue subscription service, in line with paperwork seen by the Journal. Since Musk took over the corporate in October, the company has despatched a dozen letters to Twitter and its attorneys, the Journal reported.
“We’re involved these employees reductions influence Twitter’s means to guard customers’ info,” an FTC official wrote to Twitter’s attorneys on Nov. 10 after the primary spherical of layoffs earlier that month, in line with the Journal.
The fee additionally requested whether or not privateness critiques had been performed earlier than implementing product modifications, as required beneath a Might 2022 consent order through which Twitter agreed to pay $150 million for misrepresenting how it will use nonpublic person contact info.
The FTC can also be in search of to have Musk testify in reference to the probe, the Journal reported.
The FTC did not instantly reply to a request for remark. A spokesperson for the fee advised the Journal that the company is “conducting a rigorous investigation into Twitter’s compliance with a consent order that got here into impact lengthy earlier than Mr. Musk bought the firm.”
Twitter, which not has a communications division, did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
Musk, who bought Twitter in October for $44 billion, lower roughly 50% of its workforce, or about 3,700 staff, within the first month — layoffs that spurred lawsuits alleging staff’ rights violations. Extra executives and staff give up, with so many defecting that Twitter customers feared the positioning would crash.
As Musk lower prices and jobs, he additionally made speedy modifications to the service, similar to rolling out a brand new system for verifying accounts and reinstating banned accounts like that of former US President Donald Trump, who Twitter had booted from the platform for violating the positioning’s guidelines in opposition to glorifying violence.
Musk’s transfer to cost for options which are usually free has irked individuals who use the platform, particularly as a result of the modifications have been made with little discover. Twitter fumbled the rollout of an up to date verification system final yr that allowed customers to get a coveted blue examine mark in the event that they pay a subscription payment.