House Republicans Subpoena FTC Over Twitter Probe Documents

Leah Barkoukis | April 12, 2023 3:30 PM

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan subpoenaed Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan on Wednesday for documents related to the agency’s Twitter probe.

In a letter sent with the subpoena, Jordan said the FTC did not comply with previous requests for information.

An FTC spokesman pushed back, claiming the agency “made multiple offers to brief Chairman Jordan’s staff on our investigation into Twitter,” and called the subpoena “entirely unnecessary.”

But Jordan said the agency's "voluntary compliance has been woefully insufficient."

On March 7, 2023, the Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released a report revealing how the FTC harassed Twitter in the wake of Elon Musk’s acquisition, demanding, among other things, the identities of the journalists with whom it was engaging and all communications relating to Mr. Musk.

Chairman Jordan and Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) wrote to Khan on March 10, 2023, requesting relevant documents and information to advance Congressional oversight of the FTC’s actions. To date, the agency has failed to sufficiently comply, including during the Committee’s Subcommittee on Responsiveness and Accountability to Oversight hearing on March 29, 2023, when the Director of the FTC’s Office of Congressional Relations testified that she was largely unaware of any progress being made toward satisfying the Committee’s requests.

The FTC’s refusal to provide this material is unacceptable. The Committee is authorized to conduct oversight on matters relating to the “[p]rotection of trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies” to inform potential legislative reforms. In light of the FTC’s disregard for the Committee’s earlier requests for voluntary compliance, the Committee is subpoenaing for the documents. (Judiciary Committee)