Government officials across the country have dealt with significant tech companies in state courts and legislatures, and federal agencies have contacted Twitter over alleged breaches of user privacy.
Government officials across the country have taken over big tech companies in state courts and legislatures, and federal agencies have targeted Twitter for alleged breaches of user privacy. An attorney general with an extraordinary personality and nimble position has almost started a $44 billion vortex in Elon Musk's League, now Musk's weak bid on Twitter. He launched a Twitter investigation into bots that "probably misreported" on his platform in support of Musk's complaint this week and threatened to scrap the deal.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced his investigation on Twitter on Monday, just hours after Musk, Tesla billionaire and CEO of SpaceX, accused Twitter of refusing to explain how spam bots and fakes disclosed accounts.
The unexpected turn in the month-long drama between Musk and Twitter sent the company's shares down 1.5%, likely angering shareholders, who filed a lawsuit against Musk last month accusing him of lowering the share price. Twitter shares have fallen more than 20% over the past month. They closed at $40.13 on Tuesday, up 57 cents.
Paxton's unusual move was seen by observers as unusual and likely inappropriate, although he may have the legal authority to sue. Early in his investigation, Paxton speculated that Twitter may have violated the Texas Fraudulent Commercial Practices Act.
The Attorney General's crackdown on Twitter is in stark contrast to the legal action taken by a group of countries that have reach together to target, for example, alleged anti-competitive practices by Google and Meta or investigate TikTok and its possible harmful effects on young people's psyche. Consumer
Individual prosecutors usually do not investigate large public companies because of their regulatory documents. However, in the case of Twitter, the data provided to the US Securities and Exchange Commission involved complex federal laws.
"The SEC has the resources, expertise, and legal effort to do this, and I doubt Texas has it," Mark Fagel, a securities professional who is regional director for the SEC's San Francisco office, said in an interview. . "As far as I know, this is a headline-based investigation."
