WASHINGTON–Will the social media platform, X, which is owned by Elon Musk, become a giant unregulated competitor to credit unions and other financial institutions? It was a question of sharp disagreement along party lines during a House subcommittee hearing here.

Musk, who is currently leading President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), said in a recent interview that rebranding Twitter as X is actually part of a much bigger goal.

The world’s richest person said his ultimate vision for the platform is to provide “Comprehensive communications and the ability to conduct your entire financial world,” and that it would be the most efficient money database ever built, featuring real-time processing and low fraud. He believes X has the potential to become  “half the global financial system.”

Goal to be Bigger than WeChat

Musk reportedly wants X to be even bigger than WeChat, the Chinese super-app that is used for texting, shopping, sending money, paying bills and even borrowing money. WeChat has more than one-billion users. 

Musk’s vision has raised hackles from many critics who note that Musk’s DOGE efforts have largely led to the elimination of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), whose rules X would need to comply with related to consumer finance. 

Much Debate

While Musk and his plans for the X platform were not a formal part of a hearing by the Financial Institutions Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee, which featured a CU CEO among its witnesses, he was the subject of much discussion, criticism, and sharp debate during the session, primarily from Democrats.

“If we give a damn about financial markets we should be petrified by what Elon Musk is doing,” said Seth Frotman, former general counsel and senior advisor to former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra.

Democrats on the committee repeatedly called upon Frotman—who recently resigned from the CFPB—for comment, while Republicans were critical of his claims related to X as well as the other statements he made alleging the shutdown of the CFPB is harming consumers. One GOP member of the committee said he was sorry Frotman had resigned, as he deserved to be the first one fired.

Getting ‘God-Tier’ Access

Asked by one Democratic representative about what giving Musk and DOGE what the CFPB’s chief technologies called “God-tier access” to the Bureau’s systems might mean, Frotman responded, “This is tremendously concerning, I think, for consumers and competition. There is a person who has billions of dollars on the line when it comes to the dream of turning Twitter not only into a payments company super app like we see happening in China and other places, but who stands to benefit from seemingly being in charge and making decisions over what is basically their only federal regulator.

“DOGE employees were in the CFPB on Feb. 7th and then that same day Elon Musk is tweeting ‘CFPB. RIP,’” Frotman continued. “He’s getting information that Zelle, Venmo, and CashApp don’t have, information about specific consumers. I think he’s not only getting information about consumers, he’s getting information about his competitors.

“Part of the job of the CFPB was tasked with by Congress is to make sure we understand markets and where there’s risk, and there’s a ton of risk when it comes to non-bank payments,” Frotman stated. 

About Fate of CFPB

In separate comments, Frotman was highly critical of the demise of the CFPB and especially the various cases it had brought against companies over alleged wrongdoing, noting nearly a dozen enforcement actions have been dropped in cases that allege hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud against consumers. 

Republicans, and the other witnesses, focused on what they said was widespread abuse of power and a lack of oversight at the CFPB as primary problems that need to be addressed and which are being addressed under the Trump administration.