Musk’s X poses “serious risk to Americans’ privacy,” advocates warn FTC
Ars Technica AI · Ashley Belanger · 2026-07-02
Privacy advocates are urging the FTC to reject X's bid to terminate a consent order and end mandatory data-privacy audits, warning that Elon Musk's platform poses serious ongoing risks to Americans' personal data.
Extraction
Topics: data-privacyftc-regulationsocial-media-oversightplatform-governance
Claims
- X has argued to the FTC that an existing consent order is no longer necessary due to changes Musk made to the platform.
- Privacy advocates warn the FTC that X poses serious ongoing risks to Americans' privacy and must not be released from regulatory oversight.
- The original FTC consent order was issued as a penalty after Twitter improperly shared users' contact information—submitted for two-factor authentication—for ad targeting.
- Under the order, X is subject to costly independent audits and the FTC can demand compliance documents without filing additional legal action.
Key quotes
advocates are warning the Federal Trade Commission that it must keep close watch over Elon Musk's X and firmly reject a recent bid to end the agency's ongoing audits of the platform's data handling.