Elon Musk tries again to escape FTC audits of X data handling
Ars Technica AI · Ashley Belanger · 2026-06-04
Elon Musk is attempting to free X from a 20-year FTC data-privacy order — including mandatory independent audits — that stems from Twitter's 2022 settlement over misusing two-factor authentication data for targeted advertising.
Extraction
Topics: ftc-regulationdata-privacyx-twittercorporate-complianceuser-data-misuse
Claims
- The FTC imposed a 20-year consent order on X requiring regular independent audits and agency authority to request compliance documents at any time.
- Between May 2013 and September 2019, a Twitter coding error allowed phone numbers and email addresses provided for two-factor authentication to be used for targeted advertising.
- Twitter settled with the FTC shortly before Musk's 2022 takeover, paying $150 million and agreeing to FTC monitoring of its data-handling practices through 2042.
- Elon Musk is making a renewed attempt to escape the audit and oversight requirements of that settlement.
Key quotes
Critics hope to keep Elon Musk from escaping a strict data-privacy order imposed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shortly before he took over Twitter.
a coding error accidentally allowed phone numbers and email addresses that users shared for two-factor authentication purposes to be used for targeted advertising aimed at those same users
Twitter agreed to pay $150 million and to allow the FTC to monitor the platform's data-handling practices until 2042 in order to protect user privacy.