U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez (both D-NJ) are asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Twitter for the “will disregard for the safety and security of its users.”
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“We write regarding Twitter’s serious, willful disregard for the safety and security of its users, and encourage the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate any breach of Twitter’s consent decree or other violations of our consumer protection laws,” the senators wrote in a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan yesterday.
“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.”
They also drew attention to the fact that Twitter executives responsible for privacy and cybersecurity resigned last week, along with “campaigns of racist, misogynistic, and antisemitic harassment” since Musk has taken over.
Last night, many Twitter users suspected that the platform may be going offline all together after approximately 1,200 employees left last night, per the New York Times, which came after musk had laid off about half of the staff – about 3,700 employees.
This morning, Musk tweeted a picture of two rhinoceroses having sex with the caption “FTX losing over a billion dollars of client funds,” with a photographer in the foreground of the same photo with the caption “Senators calling for the FTC to investigate Twitter.”
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
A few hours later, Musk announced that the accounts of Kathy Griffin, Jorden Petersen, and the Babylon Bee had been reinstated, before then revealing the platform’s new “freedom of speech” policy.
“New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach. Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter,” he wrote.
“You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.”
Musk, the world’s richest man who is also the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, purchased Twitter for $44 billion last month.
His rollout of Twitter Blue, purchasing “verified” checkmarks for $8, was halted after just a few days do to a number of impersonation scams of prominent figures.
Meanwhile, Menendez is in the midst of his own probe, as federal prosecutors look into whether or his his wife received gifts or services from individuals who sought favors from New Jersey’s senior senator, as The Wall Street Journal reported.
Joining Sens. Menendez and Booker in signing the letter were U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass.)