Twitter employees disregarded orders from Elon Musk to fully share data with journalists looking into anti-conservative bias soon after the billionaire acquired the site in late 2022 — a move that might have saved the company an expensive Federal Trade Commission fine.
In a letter to House lawmaker Jim Jordan Wednesday, FTC chair Lisa Khan revealed details the agency had uncovered concerning Mr. Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in late 2022. The agency found that employees, by disobeying a direct order from Mr. Musk, had saved the company from violating an agreement the company had with the commission.
Soon after taking the reins at what was then called Twitter, Mr. Musk organized what was known as the “Twitter Files,” a series of articles written by independent journalists detailing the supposed anti-conservative bias present at Twitter.
At the time, Mr. Musk said that the journalists involved in the expose would be given historic access to the site’s internal data. Employees had concerns about the order, however, as it would give private individuals access to the private data of users, including phone and address information.
According to Ms. Khan’s letter, Twitter had entered a security agreement with the FTC before Mr. Musk took over. The agreement required Twitter to keep and maintain a comprehensive data security program and limit employee access to the data of private individuals.
“The FTC’s investigation confirmed that staff was right to be concerned, given that Twitter’s new CEO had directed employees to take actions that would have violated the FTC’s Order,” the letter reads.
If the employees had not disobeyed Mr. Musk’s order, it could have proved expensive for the site. The site has been fined previously by the FTC for using user data to sell advertising space, a fine that amounted to $150 million.
Twitter, which Mr. Musk has since rebranded to X, tried unsuccessfully to get out of the FTC agreement in July.
The reports shed further light on the security problem currently facing X. After taking over the company, Mr. Musk fired nearly 80% of Twitter’s standing staff, including most of the health and safety team. Since then, scams have been very noticeable on the site, with crypto and impersonation scams popping up more often.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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