(USNewsMag.com) – After more than a month of seeking documents related to the Federal Trade Commission’s actions regarding Twitter, House Judiciary Committee Chairman and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan has subpoenaed the Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan.
The House Judiciary Committee has been seeking documents from the FTC regarding its close scrutiny of Twitter after it was purchased by Elon Musk. The House Judiciary Committee opened the investigation believing the FTC had engaged in government overreach.
After Musk’s purchase of Twitter, the FTC opened an investigation into the purchase. Since the October 2022 purchase, the FTC has sent letters to employees of Twitter requesting information regarding layoffs in the company and information on how the company shares internal documents with reporters. The FTC scheduled a deposition of Musk for February, then delayed the deposition.
After an April 12 letter to Khan regarding the FTC’s voluntary compliance being insufficient, Jordan issued the subpoena to get the FTC to produce the necessary documents for the Committees oversight.
The full House Judiciary Committee as well as the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government originally released a report March 7 which demonstrated the harassment of Twitter by the FTC after it was purchased by Musk. The FTC was then requested to send documents relevant to the FTC’s action in regard to Twitter on March 10.
According to Jordan, the FTC response to the voluntary compliance for documents ignored certain aspects of the committee’s questions regarding the investigation by the FTC. In the response, the FTC sought to link its investigation into Twitter to a privacy-related order that the FTC is tasked with enforcing. The order focuses on a 2011 agreement between Twitter and the FTC regarding data security and protection of users’ data.
According to the subpoena, Khan must comply with the request for documents and information by 9 a.m. April 26.
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