Multiple Democratic senators wrote to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Thursday demanding an investigation into Twitter following Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s purchase of the social media site.
The letter comes after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday there was “no basis” for an investigation into Musk’s purchase of the social media site by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), despite comments from President Biden on Nov. 9 that the deal was “worthy of being looked at” based on a $1.9 billion investment from a holding company largely owned by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia.
“In recent weeks, Twitter’s new Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk, has taken alarming steps that have undermined the integrity and safety of the platform, and announced new features despite clear warnings those changes would be abused for fraud, scams, and dangerous impersonation,” the senators, led by Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, wrote to Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan. “Twitter’s executives have dismissed key staff, scaled back internal privacy reviews, and forced engineers to take on legal liability for new changes — preventing managers and staff tasked with overseeing safety and legal compliance from reviewing the product updates.”
Some Republicans expressed concern that Khan turned the FTC into a partisan weapon in Oct. 2021, saying she “abandoned long-standing bipartisan practices” since her confirmation with bipartisan support. Only one Republican remains on the commission since commissioner Noah Phillips announced his intent to resign in August, Reuters reported.
Twitter is already on privacy probation and we’re seeing fresh chaos every day. That’s why I’m joining @SenBlumenthal in asking the @FTC to investigate any breach of Twitter’s consent decree or other violations. No company is above the law and Twitter must answer to the FTC. https://t.co/ckAu3BVHA0
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 18, 2022
Musk completed the purchase of Twitter on Oct. 27, after trying to back out of a $44 billion deal to take the company private, claiming executives of the social media site misled him over the number of so-called “bot“ accounts. The company began massive layoffs Nov. 4.
Musk characterized himself as a “free speech absolutist” and refused to censor Russian media on Starlink in March, but the site has seen a decline in revenue as major companies paused ad purchases. Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts threatened Musk Monday after the Tesla CEO said the senator’s Twitter account “sounds like a parody” following a Nov. 11 tweet by Markey linking to a Washington Post report on the social media site.
“We urge the Commission to vigorously oversee its consent decree with Twitter and to bring enforcement actions against any breaches or business practices that are unfair or deceptive, including bringing civil penalties and imposing liability on individual Twitter executives where appropriate,” the senators wrote.
Seven Democratic senators in total signed the letter to Khan.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
- Police chief who groveled after discussing ‘East African crime’ panders to Somalis again - December 17, 2025
- Ilhan Omar whines about ICE operations in Minneapolis - December 17, 2025
- ‘It’s all bullsh*t’: Tim Walz goes on anti-Second Amendment rant - December 17, 2025
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
BPR INSIDER COMMENTS
Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!
