{"id":25950,"date":"2022-12-26T19:00:25","date_gmt":"2022-12-26T19:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/26\/elon-musk-claims-hes-not-worried-about-the-ftc-he-should-be\/"},"modified":"2022-12-26T19:00:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-26T19:00:25","slug":"elon-musk-claims-hes-not-worried-about-the-ftc-he-should-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/26\/elon-musk-claims-hes-not-worried-about-the-ftc-he-should-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk Claims He\u2019s Not Worried About The FTC; He Should Be"},"content":{"rendered":"

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from the musk-is-gonna-musk<\/i> dept<\/h3>\n

Soon after Elon took over Twitter and fired everyone, we wondered (somewhat jokingly) if there was anyone left at the company<\/a> who was aware of the FTC\u2019s consent decree with the company, signed originally in 2011, but which runs for 30 years, and which was updated back in May of 2022. These documents have some fairly strict requirements for the company around protecting the privacy of its users, and also limiting employees access to certain data.<\/p>\n

A recent Washington Post article that is mainly about Musk\u2019s actions over the past two months has destroyed his reputation<\/a> among many who previously were impressed by him includes two tidbits about Musk and the FTC that suggest he\u2019s in for a world of hurt when the agency takes action.<\/p>\n

First, while I was kind of joking about not knowing about the consent decree, the article makes it abundantly clear that Musk not only wasn\u2019t aware of the consent decree when he agreed to purchase Twitter, but he still seemed unaware of it after taking over the company:<\/p>\n

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When one executive met with Musk and voiced concerns about the\u00a0Federal Trade Commission\u2019s consent decree, Musk assured that person there was nothing to worry about. He said Tesla had plenty of experience on privacy matters, and pointed to his deep knowledge and awareness of the constraints Twitter was under.<\/em><\/p>\n

Minutes after the meeting concluded, a subordinate of Musk emailed: Would the executive be willing to send over a copy of the consent decree they had just discussed?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Both of these paragraphs should be seen as mindblowing. First, it\u2019s difficult to read this as anything but Musk having no clue about the existence of the consent decree, which has some very specific provisions. Tesla having \u201cplenty of experience on privacy matters\u201d is meaningless in this context. It\u2019s the equivalent of someone asking Sam Bankman-Fried if he understood the laws against money laundering, and SBF responded by saying \u201cI manage my resources well in League of Legends.\u201d It\u2019s not just completely non-responsive, it suggests someone who has no clue what they\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n

The fact that an underling had to immediately then ask the exec for a copy of the consent decree just puts an exclamation point on all of this, suggesting that even his underlings know when Musk is in over his head and they\u2019re going to scramble to try to clean up the mess.<\/p>\n

However, later in the article it becomes clear that Musk\u2019s lack of concern over the consent decree is likely creating more and more problems. The article mentions Musk\u2019s order to a Twitter employee to violate the consent decree to give reporter Bari Weiss full access to all their systems:<\/p>\n

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Musk chose Bari Weiss, a former New York Times columnist, as one of the writers invited inside the company to go through documents.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cPlease give Bari full access to everything at Twitter,\u201d Musk wrote to a subordinate in a Signal message viewed by The Washington Post. \u201cNo limits at all.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

That was concerning to many inside Twitter \u2014 particularly those familiar with the\u00a02011 FTC settlement after hacks\u00a0of high-profile accounts, including that of then-President Barack Obama. Staffers responsible for her onboarding pushed back and refused to grant Weiss the full access Musk had requested, believing it would violate the settlement.<\/em><\/p>\n

One former employee described that step as \u201csuper unprecedented\u201d and \u201chighly inappropriate,\u201d saying Twitter would never have granted that level of access to an outside party who might suddenly be able to read direct messages, for example.<\/em><\/p>\n

The pushback, however, was not taken as seriously at senior levels.<\/em><\/p>\n

Days later, Musk announced deputy general counsel Jim Baker had been \u201cexited\u201d from the company, as the CEO cited what he called his \u201cpossible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue.\u201d Former employees said it would have been normal for an attorney to review documents for release.<\/em><\/p>\n

That same day, Alan Rosa, Twitter\u2019s chief information security officer in charge of access matters, was fired from the company as well. Employees that week found Weiss\u2019s name searchable in Slack, the company\u2019s internal messaging service. But her access was overseen by a chaperone, new Twitter Trust and Safety chief Ella Irwin.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Baker stuff is known and has been previously reported, but I don\u2019t believe I\u2019ve seen anyone discuss the FTC implications of giving Weiss \u201cfull access\u201d with \u201cno limits at all.\u201d Remember, the first consent decree was focused on the FTC smacking down Twitter because employees had too much access to private user data, opening it to abuse. So Musk ordering that seems like a pretty clear violation of the original consent decree \u2014 and the article seems to suggest that the firing of Baker and Rosa may have been to smooth the path to violating the consent decree.<\/p>\n

The addition of a \u201cchaperone\u201d almost certainly does not solve the consent decree concerns.<\/p>\n

And, yes, the FTC is very much paying attention. The agency could use a big win, and it sounds like its extremely ambitious (but extremely problematic) case against Meta is not going well. And here\u2019s Musk more or less ramping up direct violations. The FTC has asked Twitter for more information<\/a> on how it\u2019s complying with the consent decree. And, more recently, it became clear that the FTC has ramped up its investigation<\/a> into the company, including talking to former top execs who have left the company since Musk took over.<\/p>\n

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FTC lawyers have interrogated two former top Twitter executives in the past month \u2013 Damien Kieran, the former chief privacy officer, and Lea Kissner, the most senior cybersecurity officer, the people said. Kieran and Kissner both quit Twitter Nov. 10, alongside the head of compliance.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The probe marks at least the third time the FTC has scrutinized the social media platform over its privacy and data security practices. The review could lead to millions of dollars in fines and a new FTC order imposing obligations on Musk himself that would apply across his companies and remain in effect even if he steps down as chief executive officer or leaves Twitter.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And, as we noted earlier, violating an FTC consent decree can come with serious consequences. This isn\u2019t like some other agencies, like the SEC, that Musk has basically ignored. The FTC doesn\u2019t mess around like that.<\/p>\n

Given that Musk is desperate to make Twitter profitable<\/a>, a costly legal battle or a massive fine from the FTC could be a pretty big problem. <\/p>\n

Also: a completely avoidable one. Complying with the consent decree was the kind of thing that Musk could have easily prioritized early on, but he seems to have deliberately chosen not to. If the details of the WaPo story regarding how he handled getting info to reporters for the laughably bad reporting<\/a> on the \u201cTwitter Files\u201d is accurate, this is a complete own goal. Not just easily avoidable, but also directly made worse by Musk himself for no good reason at all.<\/p>\n

\nFiled Under: elon musk<\/a>, ftc<\/a>, ftc consent decree<\/a>
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Companies: twitter<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n