Critics are aiming to stop Elon Musk from avoiding a strict data-privacy order imposed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) before he took over Twitter.

The FTC’s 20-year order restricted X's data use, mandated regular independent audits and granted the agency authority to request documents for compliance checks. This was following a voluntary disclosure of a coding error that allowed phone numbers and email addresses to be used in targeted advertising between May 2013 and September 2019.

Musk tried but failed to revoke the order in 2023, arguing the FTC was biased. However, the FTC countered that Musk’s own actions—such as terminating key staff responsible for compliance—posed significant challenges. One engineer confirmed that layoffs impaired X's ability to enforce privacy controls around contact data.

Moreover, the FTC cited Musk’s demands on journalists and executives gaining access to internal systems as red flags. Even as Twitter faced steep layoffs leading to spotty functionality, security staff sometimes had to disobey Musk to maintain compliance.