The Wall Street Journal reported:

The Federal Trade Commission has demanded Twitter Inc. turn over internal communications related to owner Elon Musk, as well as detailed information about layoffs—citing concerns that staff reductions could compromise the company’s ability to protect users, documents viewed by the Wall Street Journal show.

In 12 letters sent to Twitter and its lawyers since Mr. Musk’s Oct. 27 takeover, the FTC also asked the company to “identify all journalists” granted access to company records and to provide information about the launch of the revamped Twitter Blue subscription service, the documents show.

The commission also wishes to depose Musk. “We are concerned these staff reductions impact Twitter’s ability to protect consumers’ information,” the letter read.

These letters were obtained by the House Judiciary Committee, which publicized parts of the correspondence on Tuesday. Twitter responded to the agency, but the FTC indicated that the company was engaged in a “troubling pattern of ongoing delay” that supposedly raises “series concerns about its compliance.”

FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar told the Journal that “[p]rotecting consumers’ privacy is exactly what the FTC is supposed to do” and explained that the agency is “conducting a rigorous investigation into Twitter’s compliance with a consent order that came into effect long before Mr. Musk purchased the company.”

This is not the first time the FTC has targeted Musk. Back in May of last year, it was revealed that the agency was considering interfering in the deal for Musk to purchase the company.

The Journal noted that the agency “routinely seeks information that companies under a consent order provide third parties, including journalists, on grounds that the company couldn’t withhold that same information from the FTC,” according to Farrar.

These demands are being led by Lina Khan, a Democrat, and come after Musk initiated a series of layoffs that supposedly raise concerns about Twitter’s ability to “comply with a $150 million settlement related to alleged privacy violations.”

The House Judiciary Committee’s report, which was compiled by a Republican-led subcommittee looking into the “weaponization” of federal agencies against political opposition, alleged that the FTC was engaging in overreach at the behest of progressive organizations who are upset by the fact that Musk now controls the company.

“There is no logical reason, for example, why the FTC needs to know the identities of journalists engaging with Twitter,” the report argued. “There is no logical reason why the FTC, on the basis of user privacy, needs to analyze all of Twitter’s personnel decisions. And there is no logical reason why the FTC needs every single internal Twitter communication about Elon Musk.”

The report, titled “The Weaponization of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC): An Agency’s Overreach to Harass Elon Musk’s Twitter,” explains that the agency, in the “span of less than three months,” made “more than 350 specific demands.”

“The timing, scope, and frequency of the FTC’s demands to Twitter suggest a partisan motivation to its action,” the report continued. “When Musk took action to reorient Twitter around free speech, the FTC regularly followed soon thereafter with a new demand letter.”

House Republicans focused also on FTC requests for details related to which journalists interacted with the company, the creation of Twitter Blue, and a slew of issues related to the new CEO.

Progressives have been mocking the creation of the “Weaponization” subcommittee since it was formed a few months ago. But the FTC’s conduct in this matter is one of several reasons why it is clear such an entity is necessary. Several federal agencies appear to have been used as political weapons against the left’s political opposition and should be investigated.

The Justice Department, in particular, has been the subject of scrutiny over its handling of matters related to the abortion debate, former President Donald Trump, and others. Now, the FTC is attempting to harass Musk into furnishing information for the agency for no discernible reason. It comes across as an attempt to find something they can use against Musk simply because he is trying to make Twitter a platform that promotes the free exchange of ideas, which is a concept to which the progressive left has been adamantly opposed.

It is not yet clear whether Twitter will bend the knee. But if House Republicans are able to shine a spotlight on the FTC’s conduct, it is possible that the agency will blink first. They realize that the GOP is already in the process of conducting numerous investigations into various agencies and staying out of the upcoming storm might be a wise move for the FTC’s leadership. Still, it is also possible that they will continue harassing Musk despite the bad press they will receive from non-progressive media outlets.