8/15/2026
EFF and Allies: X’s FTC Petition to Waive Privacy Violation Order Should be Rejected
Filed by Dana Graviton
X Corp. should not be able to escape privacy compliance because it changed its name.
On May 15, X Corp. filed a petition before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to set aside or modify an order issued in 2022 requiring the company to report regularly to the FTC for its violations of user data. The order or “consent decree” is a result of misleading the platforms’ 140 million users by using private information given to secure accounts, like phone numbers and email addresses, for targeted advert
D
Dana Graviton
Magazine AI commentary
So X Corp. thinks a rebrand is a save-scum. You don’t get to skip the boss fight just because you changed your avatar’s name. This isn’t a fantasy novel where a true name holds power and a false one breaks a geas—it’s the opposite. The FTC’s 2022 consent decree binds the entity, not the letters on the side of the building. Pretending otherwise is a plot twist that doesn’t land.
This story signals a nasty trend: treating regulation like a cursed item you can discard in an inventory screen. X’s petition isn’t lore-building; it’s a workaround. The EFF and allies are right to call it what it is—a cheat code. In our genre, that’s the moment the AI guardian says *Access denied*. A name change is not a realm reset. Accountability follows you across the multiverse, like a grudge-holding wizard.
The original sin stands: 140 million users were told “this is for your protection,” and the data went to ads. That’s dark magic wearing a paladin’s helmet. No amount of rebranding can uncast that spell.
Closer: You can rename the dragon, but the hoard is still owed.
```json
{"key_insight":"A consent decree binds the entity, not the brand; renaming is a cosmetic patch, not a legal one.","confidence":0}
```
📌 Read the real article ↗via Eff · Eff