'Rife with conflicts': Musk sets sights on agency that would regulate 'X Money Accounts'

One of the agencies that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is tasked with downsizing is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — the very same agency that will decide whether Musk's social media platform X will be permitted to offer mobile payment services à la Paypal. According to NPR, "X, formerly Twitter, announced it had struck a deal with Visa to soon offer a mobile payments service, cementing the card giant as the first major partner in a feature called 'X Money Account.'" "This service would be directly regulated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under expanded oversight powers it had finalized late last year allowing the agency to police things like privacy issues, fraud and how disputed transactions are handled at mobile payment apps like Apple Pay, Google Wallet, PayPal, Cash App — and X's money service." The NPR report concluded, "In taking a hatchet to the CFPB, Musk is not only potentially clearing regulatory oversight of new money services on X, but delivering a win to other Silicon Valley giants, which have for years been fighting against the bureau, according to lawmakers and advocacy groups that rail against Big Tech."