Alex Bruno
An investigation into Elon Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter is underway by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), according to a recent report. The story was initially reported by Bloomberg News on Thursday, with the Federal Trade Commission refusing to comment. According to Bloomberg, “under United States merger law, Musk is obligated to inform the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department of the acquisition and wait at least 30 days before closing to allow for an inquiry into any antitrust problems.”
“The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may seek extra information by issuing what is known as a second request, which would cause the case to be delayed even longer,” according to the paper. Although it is unlikely that the merger would be stopped, some opponents have expressed concern that Musk will have too much power over free speech as a result of the new acquisition. A letter addressed by more than two dozen organisations after the revelation that Musk’s bid to acquire Twitter had been approved has also tried to tarnish Musk’s acquisition by asking advertisers to abandon the site. Musk has not responded to the letter.
CNN reported in an article linked in one of Musk’s own posts responding to the controversy that “more than two dozen civil society groups said marketers should secure commitments from Twitter to retain its most critical policies, including those on civic integrity and hateful conduct, and threaten to withdraw funding if Twitter does not comply,” according to the article Musk linked in one of his own posts responding to the controversy.
The initiative was called into doubt by Musk in a subsequent article, which said, “I wonder whether people sponsoring these groups are completely aware of what the organisations are doing.” Also on Wednesday, a digital safety committee inside the United Kingdom Parliament asked Musk to face questions regarding his recent modifications to the social media platform Twitter.
Previous reports from The Daily Wire said that the United Kingdom’s worries may be tied to new draught laws released in March, which contained the possibility of criminal punishment for large tech executives who fail to comply with the country’s internet safety regulations.
Commissioner Nathan Simington, on the other hand, rebuffed demands for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to block Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, instead urging regulators and the general public to embrace the transaction as a victory for freedom of expression online.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been petitioned to prevent Elon Musk from owning Twitter, Simington said in a statement on Monday. The United States Code and our rules, on the other hand, do not provide us the authority to intervene with this transaction.” Unlike other countries, our competition review body does not and has never extended its jurisdiction to online sites such as Twitter.”
A statement by the left-wing advocacy organization Open Markets Institute, asking the Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, and Department of Justice to prohibit the acquisition, prompted Commissioner Brendan Carr to reject the proposal. “The Federal Communications Commission has no jurisdiction to prevent Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, and to imply otherwise is ludicrous,” Carr added. ‘It would be great if the whole FCC made it plain that we would not tolerate these sorts of silly arguments,’ says the author.
Source: Daily Wire
