The top of Elon Musk’s legal team scrambled to assuage the concerns of Twitter staffers who reportedly fear they may face prison if the corporate runs afoul of federal regulations.
In a memo to staffers, attorney Alex Spiro sought to downplay concerns that Twitter’s remaining employees may very well be held personally liable if the corporate was found to have violated the Federal Trade Commission’s regulations.
Twitter is sure by a 2011 consent decree requiring regular updates affirming security protections for brand new features – a process made more fraught by the rapid pace of Musk’s overhaul of the social media site.
“I understand that there have been employees at Twitter who don’t even work on the FTC matter commenting that they may go to jail if we weren’t in compliance — that is just not how this works,” wrote Spiro, an attorney at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP.
“It’s the corporate’s obligation. It’s the corporate’s burden. It’s the corporate’s liability,” Spiro added within the memo, which was first reported by Insider.
The Post has reached out to Twitter for comment.
Twitter has faced widespread scrutiny over a spike in “troll” accounts which have obtained “verified” status by paying an $8-per-month fee, only to impersonate famous corporations and individuals. The firm temporarily suspended the rollout of its latest verification plan on Friday because it attempts to handle the situation, based on reports.
Worker concerns about liability spiked after a top leader on Twitter’s legal team warned that engineers could be asked to self-certify compliance with FTC guidelines, based on a memo obtained by Bloomberg.
“This may put huge amount of non-public, skilled and legal risk onto engineers,” the unnamed lawyer wrote. “I anticipate that each one of you will likely be pressured by management into pushing out changes that can likely result in major incidents.”
Several top Twitter executives, including head of trust and safety Yoel Roth, chief information security officer Lea Kissner, chief privacy officer Damien Kieran and chief compliance officer Marianne Fogarty, resigned from the firm on Thursday.
Spiro’s note to employees got here on the identical day that the FTC’s director of public affairs, Douglas Farrar, noted the agency was “tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern.”
“No CEO or company is above the law, and firms must follow our consent decrees. Our revised consent order gives us latest tools to make sure compliance, and we’re prepared to make use of them,” Farrar said, based on Reuters.
Musk also personally weighed in on concerns about regulatory scrutiny – telling Twitter’s employees that the corporate would take all essential steps to follow the consent order.
“I cannot emphasize enough that Twitter will do whatever it takes to stick to each the letter and spirit of the FTC consent decree. Anything you read on the contrary is totally false,” Musk wrote. “The identical goes for some other government regulatory matters where Twitter operates.”
The top of Elon Musk’s legal team scrambled to assuage the concerns of Twitter staffers who reportedly fear they may face prison if the corporate runs afoul of federal regulations.
In a memo to staffers, attorney Alex Spiro sought to downplay concerns that Twitter’s remaining employees may very well be held personally liable if the corporate was found to have violated the Federal Trade Commission’s regulations.
Twitter is sure by a 2011 consent decree requiring regular updates affirming security protections for brand new features – a process made more fraught by the rapid pace of Musk’s overhaul of the social media site.
“I understand that there have been employees at Twitter who don’t even work on the FTC matter commenting that they may go to jail if we weren’t in compliance — that is just not how this works,” wrote Spiro, an attorney at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP.
“It’s the corporate’s obligation. It’s the corporate’s burden. It’s the corporate’s liability,” Spiro added within the memo, which was first reported by Insider.
The Post has reached out to Twitter for comment.
Twitter has faced widespread scrutiny over a spike in “troll” accounts which have obtained “verified” status by paying an $8-per-month fee, only to impersonate famous corporations and individuals. The firm temporarily suspended the rollout of its latest verification plan on Friday because it attempts to handle the situation, based on reports.
Worker concerns about liability spiked after a top leader on Twitter’s legal team warned that engineers could be asked to self-certify compliance with FTC guidelines, based on a memo obtained by Bloomberg.
“This may put huge amount of non-public, skilled and legal risk onto engineers,” the unnamed lawyer wrote. “I anticipate that each one of you will likely be pressured by management into pushing out changes that can likely result in major incidents.”
Several top Twitter executives, including head of trust and safety Yoel Roth, chief information security officer Lea Kissner, chief privacy officer Damien Kieran and chief compliance officer Marianne Fogarty, resigned from the firm on Thursday.
Spiro’s note to employees got here on the identical day that the FTC’s director of public affairs, Douglas Farrar, noted the agency was “tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern.”
“No CEO or company is above the law, and firms must follow our consent decrees. Our revised consent order gives us latest tools to make sure compliance, and we’re prepared to make use of them,” Farrar said, based on Reuters.
Musk also personally weighed in on concerns about regulatory scrutiny – telling Twitter’s employees that the corporate would take all essential steps to follow the consent order.
“I cannot emphasize enough that Twitter will do whatever it takes to stick to each the letter and spirit of the FTC consent decree. Anything you read on the contrary is totally false,” Musk wrote. “The identical goes for some other government regulatory matters where Twitter operates.”
