Washington, July 15 (IANS) Republicans came to defend Twitter owner Elon Musk during a hearing in an investigation by Lina Khan-led Federal Trade Commission (FTC) into Twitter over alleged user privacy failures and terminating a settlement the platform entered into with the FTC last year.

The House Judiciary Committee hearing came after Musk asked a federal court to end the FTC’s investigation into Twitter, reports The Verge.

“Why are you harassing Twitter?” Republican Jim Jordan (R-OH) and committee chair asked Khan during the hearing.

“This wasn’t harassment. It was a shakedown,” he said.

Khan responded, saying the FTC imposed the privacy restrictions Musk cursed more than a decade ago.

“Twitter has a history of lax security and privacy policies,” she was quoted as saying.

Jordan called Khan’s leadership a “disaster” and suggested that the FTC’s Twitter probe was politically motivated.

Republicans also criticised FTC’s recent court failures to challenge mergers, including a decision allowing Microsoft to purchase gaming giant Activision Blizzard.

The FTC began investigating Twitter after its acquisition by Musk last year, whether the micro-blogging platform "had the resources necessary to maintain the privacy of its users".

In May last year, the US agency found that Twitter had been secretly using its users' information for advertising purposes and fined it $150 million.