SAN FRANCISCO — Elon Musk's X has asked the Federal Trade Commission to eliminate the 2022 consent order that currently governs how the platform collects and uses personal data — framing the regulatory requirement as a direct obstacle to its ambition of making Grok the world's leading artificial intelligence platform.
What X Is Asking For — and Why
The petition, filed with the FTC and opened for public comment on June 3, requests that the agency either set aside or modify the consent order so it expires by the end of 2026 rather than running its full term. X argues four grounds: the original order was imposed on a company that no longer exists; every executive responsible for the underlying violations has departed; the order imposes millions in compliance costs that no longer serve a valid purpose; and — most significantly — maintaining it hinders American AI leadership.
That last point is the new argument. By tying the petition directly to Grok's development, X is framing privacy oversight not as a consumer protection issue but as an economic and national security matter, mirroring arguments other tech companies have used in regulatory battles over AI data access.
Why the Order Exists in the First Place
The 2022 consent order did not arise arbitrarily. In May 2022, the FTC charged Twitter — months before Musk completed his acquisition — with deceptively using security data. The agency found that phone numbers and email addresses users had submitted for two-factor authentication were quietly repurposed to target advertising. The resulting $150 million penalty and expanded oversight requirements were designed to prevent future misuse of sensitive user data.
That context matters for the current petition. X is now asking the FTC to accept on faith that it runs a "world-class" privacy program — despite a documented record of the conduct the order was built to address.
