Judge rejects Elon Musk’s attempt to kill Twitter/FTC privacy settlement

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Bet_Noire)

Elon Musk lost an attempt to avoid a deposition and terminate a privacy settlement that Twitter agreed to before he bought the company.

Musk’s X Corp. in July asked a federal judge for “a protective order staying the notice of deposition of Elon Musk,” and an order to terminate or modify the company’s 2022 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. US Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson denied both requests in an order issued Thursday in US District Court for the Northern District of California.

The May 2022 settlement with the FTC came in response to Twitter targeting ads at users with phone numbers and email addresses collected from those users when they enabled two-factor authentication. US authorities are investigating whether the Musk-owned social network, now officially called X, is complying with the settlement’s privacy and security requirements.