One of the incidents cited by ad executives was the spread of an AI-generated image that falsely suggested there had been a large explosion at the Pentagon.
Senators question Twitter’s FTC compliance
Meanwhile, four Democratic US senators questioned Twitter over whether it is complying with privacy and security obligations from a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. “Last week, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, and Twitter’s head of brand safety and advertising quality, A.J. Brown, resigned,” the Friday letter said. “These departures, following a string of high-profile resignations from Twitter’s lead privacy, information security, and compliance officers, raise concerns about Twitter’s ability to comply with its legal obligations.”
The letter was sent to Musk and incoming Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii). Yaccarino, who reportedly starts at Twitter today, was previously head of NBCUniversal’s advertising sales and has hired one of her top executives from NBC, Joe Benarroch, for a senior business operations role at Twitter.
The FTC is already investigating Twitter, reportedly focusing on its compliance with conditions in a May 2022 settlement with the agency in which Twitter agreed to pay a $150 million penalty for targeting ads at users with phone numbers and email addresses collected from those users when they enabled two-factor authentication. Twitter was already subject to a 2011 settlement that prohibited the company from misrepresenting its privacy and security practices. FTC Chair Lina Khan told Twitter in a January 27 letter that she was “troubled by Twitter’s delays and the obstacles that these delays are creating for the FTC’s investigation.”
While a House Republican objected to the FTC investigation, the Democratic senators’ letter said that “Mr. Musk’s behavior reveals an apparent indifference towards Twitter’s longstanding legal obligations.” The senators asked a series of questions regarding Twitter’s compliance with FTC obligations, requesting answers by June 18. “Regardless of his personal wealth, Mr. Musk is not exempt from the law, and neither is the company he purchased,” they wrote.