The House Judiciary Committee has accused FTC Chair Lina Khan, appointed by President Biden, of using the agency’s powers to target Elon Musk’s Twitter. The claims emerged in a report, revealing that the FTC intensified its scrutiny of Twitter immediately following Musk’s acquisition, pushing for an immediate vote on a long-pending consent decree.
Documents indicate that despite the consent decree being in negotiation before Musk’s involvement, Khan initiated an urgent vote just days after Musk’s acquisition was publicized. Over the first three months of Musk’s leadership, the FTC sent Twitter over a dozen letters, initiating more than 350 demands for documents and information, some of which extended beyond the scope of the existing consent decree.
A consent decree, as Cornell Law School notes, is a settlement that is approved by a court, where the FTC can enforce specific conditions and demand information as part of ongoing compliance checks.
