NCL, 14 Other Orgs Oppose X/Twitter Attempt to Escape Privacy Requirements
Media Contact: Lisa McDonald, Vice President of Communications, 202-207-2829
Washington, DC – Today, the National Consumers League and 14 other organizations submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) opposing a petition from X Corp. (formerly Twitter) to discard an order requiring the company to maintain privacy and cybersecurity safeguards. The order—unanimously approved in 2022 by two Republican and two Democratic commissioners—was necessitated after Twitter repeatedly violated a preexisting privacy order it had been under since 2011. The 2011 order was also ratified unanimously at the time by two Republicans and three Democrats.
“Users on one of the largest social media platforms deserve to have their privacy protected,” said NCL Senior Public Policy Manager Eden Iscil. “The FTC’s privacy order is the best bet Americans have right now to see accountability if X violates the law again. Given X and its predecessor Twitter’s repeated disregard for keeping our data safe, the sensible thing for the FTC to do is to toss this petition in the trash with haste.”
In the joint filing, the coalition details how X’s petition fails to meet the rigorous legal standard required to lift or modify an FTC consent decree, which demands a clear showing of unforeseen conditions generating a “grievous wrong”. Far from demonstrating a safe corporate transformation, the groups argue that X’s current practices present an escalating threat to user privacy. The comment highlights a recent leak of 2.8 billion records, international investigations into illicit content generated by its “Grok” AI model, and the platform’s ongoing harvesting of hundreds of millions of user posts without explicit consent to train its artificial intelligence systems—proving that strict, independent federal enforcement is more vital than ever.
The comment was drafted by the Demand Progress Education Fund, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), and NCL. 11 other organizations signed on: the Center for Digital Democracy, Check My Ads Institute, Constitutional Alliance, Consumer Action, the Consumer Federation of America, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, Oregon Consumer Justice, the Oregon Consumer League, Public Citizen, Travelers United, and the Virginia Citizens Consumer Council.
The full comments can be found here.
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About the National Consumers League (NCL)
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.
