The Democrat senator is asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate whether tech billionaire Elon Musk, a senior adviser to President Trump, is taking advantage of the government's position to pressure advertisers to spend more on social media platforms.
In a letter dating back to Attorney General Pam Bondy on Wednesday, five senators pointed to a recent report showing Musk was preparing to take on his “influenced” new role in the Trump administration in 2024. X boycotted the platform if advertisers didn't cooperate and put pressure on threatening advertisers who threatened policy liability.
“We act on the threat that X reportedly is doing to advertisers, and use our government position to protect people who engage in business with him or harm those who don't — he is at risk of being able to withstand criminal ethics laws,” said Democrat Sens. I read a letter sent by Elizabeth Warren (Mass.). (Md.).
“The Department of Justice (DOJ) will be responsible for investigating such misconduct by civil servants,” they added.
The letter will come later Wall Street Journal Last month, X's lawyers reported that they had told the Advertising Conglomerate Interpublic Group that they “to make their clients spend more on Elon Musk's social media platform.”
The threat came even in a pending merger between InterPublic and its biggest rival, Omnicom Group. The senator said the merger “needs to be reviewed by antitrust enforcers such as the DOJ.”
“Interpublic understood the implications of this threat. If advertisers aren't generating more revenue for X, they'll face the risk that Musk could use his power in the Trump administration to delay or block a $13 billion merger with the competition,” the senator wrote.
Oka reached out to DOJ and X for comments.
The same group of senators asked the antitrust division of DOJ, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Andrew Ferguson and acting Associate Attorney General Omedy Assefi, “we are asking to independently assess the international mergers that Musk may be threatening.”
The senator said he was concerned that X officials could be “trying to attack Quiz Pro Kuo's deals.
“Musk is not beyond the law because he is the richest person in the world,” they added. “In fact, if evidence emerges that Musk is using his official role to enforce advertisers, or that he is participating in a particular issue in which he has financial interests, the DOJ asks to investigate potential violations of federal ethics laws, as the department should be for other federal employees who appear to be breaking the law.”
