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House Report: FTC Chair Lina Khan Weaponized Agency to ‘Harass’ Elon Musk

A newly released report from the House Judiciary Committee reveals that the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) weaponized the agency against Elon Musk following his purchase of Twitter.


According to the report, Biden-appointed FTC Chair Lina Khan is accused of filing introducing a consent decree against the social media platform due to Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. A consent decree is a settlement agreement spelling out allegedly wrongful or deficient conduct and requiring a company to correct those alleged violations.

The Daily Caller reports that Khan had repeatedly denied that Musk’s purchase of the platform was the reason for filing the consent decree but documents show that the FTC had been considering potential enforcement for years prior to the acquisition.

The House report shows that Chair Khan called for an immediate vote to finalize the decree just days after Twitter’s board had announced the deal.

An email from an attorney advisor to Khan makes the motivation for the decree clear: “The urgency is due to Elon Musk’s purchase of the company this week.”

According to the Daily Caller, the House Judiciary Committee has received more than a dozen letters the FTC sent to Twitter during the first three months of Musk’s acquisition. Those letters included more than 350 demands for information and documents from the company, including demands that fell outside of the FTC’s consent decree, according to the House report.

The FTC also sought information about Twitter Files journalists Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi who testified to the House Select Subcommittee on Weaponization regarding how the government pressured tech companies to censor online speech around the 2020 election.

Since Elon Musk bought Twitter, now renamed X, FTC pressure against the company has been ramped up, undermining the credibility and legitimacy of the agency to act independently.

The report concludes that Khan was uncooperative and “refused to produce key documents,” and that she pressured her fellow commissioners finalize the consent decree and defended the rushed vote by asserting that “Twitter’s counsel urged the [FTC] to approve the order expeditiously.”

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Photo: WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 13: Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 13, 2023 in Washington, DC. The committee and its chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), have accused Khan and the commission of "mismanagement," "disregard for ethics and congressional oversight" and "politicized rulemakings." (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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