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FTC investigating Twitter?

The agency is reviewing the microblogging site's interaction with UberMedia, a potential Twitter competitor, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

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Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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The Federal Trade Commission is reviewing Twitter and its interaction with at least one app developer, according to published reports.

The agency, which is responsible for reviewing companies suspected of engaging in anticompetitive behavior, has requested information about UberMedia, a potential Twitter competitor that owns a portfolio of Twitter clients and related applications, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing an anonymous source familiar with the matter. The FTC's interest in Twitter's activities was originally reported by the Business Insider.

Twitter and FTC representatives could not be reached for comment, and UberMedia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Twitter has had a rocky relationship with UberMedia. The two companies were reportedly in competition earlier this year to buy TweetDeck, a Twitter desktop client that Twitter ultimately bought for $40 million in May. After an earlier report that TweetDeck had been sold to UberMedia, Twitter blocked UberMedia's applications, citing a variety of concerns including trademark violations and privacy issues before reinstating them several days later.