Topline
Twitter’s former global head of information security filed a lawsuit against X on Tuesday, alleging he was fired following billionaire Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company for opposing a request he claims would have violated an FTC order to safeguard users’ privacy—the latest lawsuit from a former X employee since Musk’s turbulent takeover last year.
Key Facts
Alan Rosa claimed he was told to cut his department’s physical security budget, which was already slashed 50%, by another 50%, which he said in a filing would have put X’s San Francisco office at risk of violating a pre-Musk deal with the FTC that required the company to maintain “a comprehensive privacy and information security program.”
The FTC charged Twitter months before Musk’s takeover with violating the 2011 order on data privacy, accusing the platform of collecting users’ private data under the pretense of security and later exploiting the data for commercial purposes—leading Twitter to pay a $150 million civil penalty and sign a new privacy agreement.
The office allegedly stored more than 800 devices that were subject to litigation holds requiring them to be preserved and not removed, destroyed or altered, according to the filing.
Rosa claimed Musk and Steve Davis, a high-level advisor at Twitter, were “dismissive” of the court order, specifically claiming Davis was cutting products and services that supported and complied with the court order.
Davis allegedly asked Rosa to shut down its Salesforce software, which enabled Twitter to share information with law enforcement agencies about time sensitive and legal matters, though Rosa objected to the request, according to the filing.
Rosa was later fired and didn’t receive a reason for the termination, according to the filing.
X didn’t immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
Tangent
Rosa cited protesters as one of the reasons he objected to the physical security budget cuts. Protesters gathered outside Twitter headquarters early this year to oppose mass layoffs that materialized at the company following Musk’s acquisition.
Surprising Fact
X has faced several lawsuits from ex-employees, vendors and other parties since Musk’s purchase. X agreed in September to settle claims from about 2,000 former Twitter employees suing it for back pay and bonuses. The company was accused of disproportionately laying off older employees in a class action lawsuit. The company has also been repeatedly sued for allegedly failing to pay office expenses, though some of those lawsuits were dropped or resolved, and the company was sued by a private jet company for allegedly refusing to pay for a flight (Twitter’s attorneys argue the company was overcharged for the jet).
Forbes Valuation
We estimate Musk’s net worth at $249 billion, making the Tesla and SpaceX CEO the wealthiest person in the world.
Key Background
Layoffs dominated the early months following Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, which he later rebranded as X. Half of the company’s 7,500 employees in 2022 were laid off shortly after Musk’s arrival, impacting the employees in content moderation, advertising and engineering. 200 more employees were cut early this year, not long after Musk said he was working to “stabilize” the company. By April, 80% of Twitter’s workforce was laid off, according to a BBC interview with Musk. The company, which has since been rebranded to X, most recently contended with a string of large companies pulling advertisements from its platform following an antisemitic tweet that Musk agreed with—an action he later apologized for. Companies like Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, IBM, Sony and Apple have fled the platform, raising the ire of Musk, who told the New York Times last week that advertisers “blackmailing” him with money should “go f***” themselves.”
Further Reading
Elon Musk Reportedly Lays Off 200 Twitter Staffers After Saying He Wants To ‘Stabilize’ Company (Forbes)
Confusion and Frustration Reign as Elon Musk Cuts Half of Twitter’s Staff (NYT)
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