Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) clashed with billionaire Elon Musk in an online exchange Sunday, telling the world’s richest man to “fix your companies or Congress will” after Musk mocked the senator’s complaints about Twitter.
On Friday, Markey sent a letter to Musk asking for more information about how accounts on Twitter are being verified and accusing the social media company’s new owner of allowing the spread of disinformation and “putting profits over people.”
Markey sent the letter to Musk after his account was copied by a Washington Post reporter testing how easy it was to impersonate notable figures. The fake Markey account, which was set up with the senator’s permission, was later suspended.
Musk replied Sunday to Markey’s tweet sharing the letter with a mocking jab at the senator.
“Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?” Musk wrote. “And why does your [personal profile] have a mask!?”
Markey then struck back, arguing in a reply that “one of your companies is under an FTC consent decree,” referring to Twitter and the Federal Trade Commission.
“Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people,” Markey tweeted, referring to Tesla and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “And you’re spending your time picking fights online. Fix your companies. Or Congress will.”
Twitter on Friday paused the ability to pay $7.99 a month for a blue check mark, which denotes an official, verified account, after the social media platform was flooded with impersonated accounts of notable people.
The verification system before Musk purchased Twitter made clear that an account was official and had been authenticated by the company, giving users the ability to know that information from the account comes from a real and verifiable source.
In his letter, Markey pressed for information about how the paid verification system differs from before and explained he was personally concerned after his account was impersonated.
The news is the latest firestorm after Musk bought Twitter and took it private last month.
Several top security and privacy experts at the company have also resigned amid the controversial changes.
The Federal Trade Commission is tracking developments related to privacy and security in light of the consent decree, which requires Twitter to enhance oversight of protecting user data.