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FTC pushes back on House Oversight subpoena

FILE - The Federal Trade Commission building in Washington is pictured on Jan. 28, 2015. The online counseling service BetterHelp has agreed to return $7.8 million to customers to settle with the FTC for sharing health data it had promised to keep private — including information about mental health challenges — with companies including Facebook and Snapchat. The proposed FTC order announced Thursday, March 2, 2023, also limits how the California-based company may share consumer data in the future. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

(NewsNation) — The Federal Trade Commission is pushing back on a subpoena issued by Rep. Jim Jordan, demanding information on the agency’s investigation into the Twitter sale.

“We can confirm that we have offered to brief Chairman Jordan’s staff multiple times on nonpublic information about the investigation into Twitter’s compliance with our consent order and they have yet to take us up on this offer,” FTC spokesman Doug Farrar told NewsNation.


The FTC is investigating billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, asking the company for information on layoffs as well as information about internal documents shared with journalists.

House Republicans have been looking into the investigation as part of their efforts to push back against what they see as the “weaponization” of government power.

In the subpoena, Jordan accuses the agency of overreach and calls the investigation into the Twitter acquisition overly burdensome to Musk.

The FTC, meanwhile, has said it has been voluntarily cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s investigation and a subpoena is an unnecessary move.

“The FTC respects the important role of congressional oversight. We have made multiple offers to brief Chairman Jordan’s staff on our investigation into Twitter. Those are standing offers made prior to this entirely unnecessary subpoena,” Farrar said.