Elon Musk’s Twitter problems are multiplying

Elon Musk’s Twitter-related headaches multiplied Tuesday, with the US Federal Trade Commission widening an investigation into the company’s handling of user data and police in Southern California seeking information about an alleged vehicle assault that might involve a member of his security detail.

On top of those legal developments, the billionaire executive is also engaged in a potentially protracted search for a new chief executive officer for the social network, a position he has said no one really wants. Musk also found time to spar publicly with an investor in Tesla Inc., the electric car company he runs, who has chided Musk over his involvement with Twitter.

Musk’s pursuit and purchase of Twitter Inc. has been weighing on the shares of Tesla and sapping his wealth, knocking him from his perch as the world’s richest person. After conducting a Twitter poll asking users whether he should step down as the head of the company — a query met with a resounding yes — he’s actively looking for a possible replacement, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

FTC investigation

Whatever the outcome of that search, Musk will need to contend with escalating concerns on the part of the FTC. The federal agency is deepening an investigation into Twitter’s privacy and data security practices in the wake of Musk’s takeover, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.

FTC lawyers questioned two former senior executives in the past month about whether Twitter has been able to comply with the agency’s 2011 consent order since Musk took over, said three people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing a confidential investigation. Musk’s Oct. 27 acquisition led to an exodus of many of the social media company’s legal, privacy and compliance executives, prompting the wider investigation.

The two former executives questioned by the FTC were Damien Kieran, Twitter’s former chief privacy officer, and Lea Kissner, the most senior cybersecurity officer, the people said. Kieran and Kissner both quit Twitter Nov. 10, alongside the head of compliance. 

The FTC had already opened a new inquiry into Twitter after the company’s former chief cybersecurity officer, Peiter Zatko, filed a whistle-blower complaint, said the people. Zatko testified in Congress in September, alleging the platform was a “ticking bomb of security vulnerabilities.”

Parting ways

Musk’s Twitter also parted ways with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the law firm that formerly represented the company before the FTC and negotiated both the 2011 consent decree and the terms of a related May settlement over a breach of that agreement.

Wilson Sonsini declined to comment.

Roughly 5,000 of Twitter’s 7,500 employees have left the company since Musk assumed control, including the general counsel and chief privacy officer.

When Bloomberg reached out to Musk about the expanded FTC investigation, he responded, saying, “Why has Bloomberg News been asleep at the switch regarding government censorship of social media?”