After the Federal Trade Commission launched a probe into Twitter over privacy concerns, Twitterโs negotiations with the FTC do not seem to be going very well. Last week, it was revealed that Twitter CEO Elon Muskโs request last year for a meeting with FTC Chair Lina Khan was rebuffed. Now, a senior Twitter lawyer, Christian Dowellโwho was closely involved in those FTC talksโhas resigned, several people familiar with the matter told The New York Times.
Dowell joined Twitter in 2020 and rose in the ranks after several of Twitterโs top lawyers exited or were fired once Musk took over the platform in the fall of 2022, Bloomberg reported. Most recently, Dowellโwho has not yet confirmed his resignationโoversaw Twitterโs product legal counsel. In that role, he was โintimately involvedโ in the FTC negotiations, sources told the Times, including coordinating Twitterโs responses to FTC inquiries.
The FTC has overseen Twitterโs privacy practices for more than a decade after it found that the platform failed to safeguard personal information and issued a consent order in 2011. The agency launched its current probe into Twitterโs operations after Musk began mass layoffs that seemed to introduce new security concerns, AP News reported. The Times reported that the FTC's investigation intensified after security executives quit Twitter over concerns that Musk might be violating the FTC's privacy decree.