Elon Musk’s X Corp recently petitioned the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to vacate a 2022 privacy consent order, a move that has drawn mixed reactions across the industry. The order originated from allegations that the former Twitter company collected over 140 million users’ phone numbers and email addresses under the guise of account security between 2013 and 2019, then used them for ad targeting. The FTC imposed a $150 million civil penalty on Twitter at the time, along with 20 years of privacy compliance oversight.
In its petition, filed this May, X Corp argues that all employees responsible for the violations have since left the company and that it has built a “world-class privacy and data protection system.” The petition also stresses that the order hinders X’s ability to develop its AI business, stating that “terminating the order is critical to maintaining U.S. leadership in AI.” However, consumer advocacy groups and some lawmakers oppose the move, arguing that X’s AI expansion actually calls for stronger FTC oversight. Former FTC Chair Lina Khan previously noted that Musk had directed employees to take actions that “could violate the consent order,” a move reportedly halted by the company’s security team.