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... Musk's X Corp. in July asked a federal judge for "a protective order staying the notice of deposition of Elon Musk," and an order to terminate or modify the company's 2022 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. US Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson denied both requests in an order issued Thursday in US District Court for the Northern District of California.

The May 2022 settlement with the FTC came in response to Twitter targeting ads at users with phone numbers and email addresses collected from those users when they enabled two-factor authentication. US authorities are investigating whether the Musk-owned social network, now officially called X, is complying with the settlement's privacy and security requirements.

There was a legal flaw in X Corp.'s motion to terminate the settlement and prevent Musk's deposition, Hixson wrote. When Twitter agreed to the privacy settlement last year, there was a "stipulated order" issued by the court and an "administrative order" issued by the FTC. X asked the court to terminate the stipulated order, but Hixson pointed out that the two orders are quite different.

"The obligations that X Corp. seeks to be relieved of come from the FTC's Administrative Order, not this Court's Stipulated Order," Hixson wrote. The FTC's administrative order "stands on its own," and the relevant Federal Rule of Civil Procedure "allows the Court to modify its own orders, not another tribunal's orders," the judge wrote.
Judge: Court can't block Musk's deposition ...