A group of Democratic senators sent a letter to Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, and the company’s incoming CEO, Linda Yaccarino, expressing concerns about actions since Musk took over the social media platform. The senators comprised Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), and Mazie Hirono (Hawaii). They wrote that Twitter, since Musk’s purchase last fall, “violated its consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and put consumer privacy and data security at risk.”
In their letter, the senators mentioned recent departures, including the exit of Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, that “raise concerns about Twitter’s ability to comply with its legal obligations” given two consent orders signed with the FTC.
“Two of Twitter’s top safety executives resigned last week, after months of mass layoffs and hasty product launches. Is Twitter complying with an existing @FTC order to protect consumer privacy and safety? I’m calling for answers,” Warren wrote on Twitter.
The senators wrote in their letter that Twitter “had a poor track record of protecting consumer privacy” even before Musk acquired the platform, but his “hasty personnel and product decisions” after taking over raised concerns. The letter pointed out that “Mr. Musk fired multiple top executives; top security executives resigned; and Mr. Musk fired employees who had criticized him, let go of contractors, and laid off half of the workforce. On November 9, the day before the deadline to submit a report to the FTC, the Chief Privacy Officer, Chief Information Security Officer, and Chief Compliance Officer all resigned.”
The senators allege that “Musk’s behavior reveals an apparent indifference toward Twitter’s longstanding legal obligations, which did not disappear” when he took over the company. They concluded by requesting a reply by June 18 to a series of questions about Twitter and its FTC obligations.
Musk has not responded publicly to the letter, and The Hill’s inquiry to Twitter’s press team received the platform’s standard “💩” response.
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