(San Francisco) The US government fears that the social network X, formerly Twitter, is no longer respecting its commitments in terms of data security and confidentiality since the company came under the control of Elon Musk.
According to a court document filed Monday evening in a San Francisco court, the Justice Department asked a judge to reject the company’s attempt to escape obligations made in May 2022.
The platform then agreed to pay a fine of $150 million and to submit to regular checks to verify that it complied with the rules imposed by the American competition agency (FTC).
Last July, X asked the courts to terminate or modify this agreement.
“X is now seeking to get rid of this agreement and limit scrutiny of its data practices. This motion is without merit and must be denied,” the department’s attorneys say in Monday’s filing.
After the acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, Elon Musk quickly fired more than half of the Californian group’s employees, including many senior managers familiar with these regulations.
The FTC then warned the social network that it risked significant fines if it did not comply with the agreement. “No director general or company is above the law,” emphasized a spokesperson for the federal agency.
The department’s lawyers discuss major upheavals within the company, from resignations to chaotic launches of new features.
“The FTC had every reason to seek to know whether these events signaled a failure on the part of X to fulfill its obligations,” they assure.
They also call on the court to reject the billionaire’s request not to have to testify.
“X is not entitled to a protective order suspending Musk’s testimony. Contrary to X’s claims, Musk has unique, first-hand knowledge of the current state and direction of the company’s data practices and its efforts to comply with the 2022 Administrative Order” , they detail.
The 2022 agreement was reached after the FTC accused Twitter of deceiving its users from 2013 to 2019 by hiding from them that it was using their personal data to help advertisers send them targeted advertising.
It notably provided for the establishment of a “comprehensive information security program”, the upstream evaluation of any new product or service that requires the collection of personal data and independent audits.