Twitter CEO Elon Musk fired back at Senate Democrats after several members penned a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asking they investigate the social media giant.
Musk tweeted a meme showing two rhinoceroses mating behind a wildlife photographer who’s paying no mind to the scene. Over the rhinos read the text, “FTX losing a billion dollars of client funds,” while below the photographer said, “Senators calling to investigate Twitter.”
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
The billionaire pointed out the senators’ hypocrisy for the probe while remaining silent on the historic financial crumbling of the crypto currency exchange company FTX, which has declared bankruptcy after losing billions of dollars.
On Thursday, seven Democrats sent a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan, accusing Twitter of “serious, willful disregard for the safety and security of its users” and alleging Musk has “taken alarming steps that have undermined the integrity and safety of the platform” since taking over.
“We are concerned that the actions taken by Mr. Musk and others in Twitter management could already represent a violation of the FTC’s consent decree, which prohibits misrepresentation and requires that Twitter maintain a comprehensive information security program,” the letter stated.
This comes in the wake of Democrats expressing their frustration over Musk’s acquisition of Twitter last month, most recently with Sen. Ed Markey on Sunday, who threatened Musk to “fix” his companies “or Congress will.”
“One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree,” Markey tweeted to Musk. “Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you’re spending your time picking fights online. Fix your companies. Or Congress will.”
Musk closed the deal for $44 billion in October and began to reshape the platform that he’s long-criticized over allegations of not being politically neutral by firing several executives. Those fired include chief executive Parag Agrawal and chief financial officer Ned Segal, among others.
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner,” he tweeted after the completion of the deal.
The self-proclaimed “Chief Twit” previously tried to buy Twitter in April before canceling in July, saying that he was misled by the company over the number of fake “bot” accounts.
