The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is under fire for going after Twitter CEO Elon Musk and demanding the tech giant hand over a number of internal documents.
The FTC is reportedly looking into Musk’s 2022 takeover and is asking the company to “identify all journalists” who had access to the “Twitter Files,” among other things. The government agency is also asking Twitter to turn over anything involving widespread layoffs, the Twitter Blue subscription service, and to provide all internal communications related to Musk.
It also wants to know why Twitter fired its deputy general counsel and former FBI lawyer Jim Baker.
Fox News’ Judge Jeanine Pirro slammed the FTC Wednesday on “The Five,” saying the move was taken from the left’s playbook. “This is classic left ideology. Go after them. Trash the First Amendment. It doesn’t matter,” she said.
JIM BAKER, TWITTER LAWYER FIRED BY ELON MUSK, PLAYED KEY ROLE IN FBI’S TRUMP-RUSSIA COLLUSION PROBE
Pirro argued the reason the FTC is involved is “allegedly, they say that ‘we are protecting consumers,’ you know, from other people coming in like the Twitter Files and finding out who said what at what time.”
However, she questioned why the agency was getting involved with a private company.
“Here’s the bottom line: Twitter is a private company. The FTC wants to know why James Baker was fired. Why? Because he was with the FBI. You want to keep the FBI in there, so they can call and make sure that you monitor what’s going on,” Pirro claimed.
JIM BAKER, TWITTER LAWYER FIRED BY ELON MUSK, PLAYED KEY ROLE IN FBI’S TRUMP-RUSSIA COLLUSION PROBE
“The other excuse they’re using is they’re saying, ‘Look, there was a consent decree before Elon Musk even bought Twitter. And we got to make sure that, you know, the company has the ability to comply with a $150 million settlement.’”
Co-host Dana Perino echoed similar sentiments adding that it’s none of the FTC’s business what Elon Musk does with his company. “It’s now a private company, but what he does with his company, that’s literally none of their business,” she said.
The FTC investigation reportedly began over concerns Twitter did not have the adequate resources to protect its users’ privacy after the mass layoffs and budget cuts by Musk, according to the Boston Globe.
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Details about the FTC’s requests came from an interim staff report from the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which accused the agency of “orchestrating an aggressive campaign to harass Twitter…”
“The Committee does not dispute that protecting user privacy and mitigating information security risks are important duties. Because of its consent decree with Twitter, the FTC has the authority to monitor how Twitter is protecting users’ private information, such as their phone numbers and email addresses. But the FTC is currently imposing some demands on Twitter that have no rational basis in user privacy,” the report read.
“There is no logical reason, for example, why the FTC needs to know the identities of journalists engaging with Twitter. There is no logical reason why the FTC, on the basis of user privacy, needs to analyze all of Twitter’s personnel decisions. And there is no logical reason why the FTC needs every single internal Twitter communication about Elon Musk.”
An FTC spokesman told the Wall Street Journal, “Protecting consumers’ privacy is exactly what the FTC is supposed to do,” adding the FTC “conducting a rigorous investigation into Twitter’s compliance with a consent order that came into effect long before Mr. Musk purchased the company.”
Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report
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