- FTC chair Lina Khan turned down Elon Musk's invitation to meet, The New York Times reported.
- The regulator reportedly said Twitter should focus on complying with its investigation instead.
Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan rejected Elon Musk's request to meet with her late last year, according to a recent report from The New York Times.
Musk's invitation was presumably an attempt to smooth over some of the FTC's concerns about data privacy at Twitter after the billionaire slashed about half of the company's workforce a few weeks after buying the social media company. At the time of his request, the agency said it was tracking Musk's takeover "with deep concern" in November.
In a response letter to Musk's invitation, dated January 27, Khan declined the meeting, the Times reported, citing documents it had viewed. The regulator has issued a request to interview Musk as a part of its investigation, but it has yet to occur, the publication said.
"I recommend that Twitter appropriately prioritize its legal obligations to provide the requested information," Khan wrote, according to the Times. "Once Twitter has fully complied with all F.T.C. requests, I will be happy to consider scheduling a meeting with Mr. Musk."
Musk has since met with Christine Wilson, the agency's only Republican commissioner, in February, according to the Times. Wilson said in an opinion article for The Wall Street Journal published the same month as the meeting that she plans to resign from her role at the regulator after accusing Khan of an "abuse of power."
Since he bought Twitter last year, the FTC has sent 12 letters to Twitter requesting internal communications relating to Musk, layoffs, and journalists who have access to company records, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
Earlier this month, Musk called the FTC probe a "weaponization of a government agency" and a "serious attack on the Constitution."
This isn't Twitter's first time dealing with an FTC investigation. The agency's current probe stems from a 2011 settlement related to data privacy concerns. Last year, Twitter agreed to pay a $150 million fine related to the settlement after the Department of Justice and FTC said it failed to tell users their phone numbers and emails were being used for targeted advertising.
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