The agency will decide in June whether to conduct an in-depth antitrust investigation of the transaction, the source told Bloomberg. Such an investigation would delay the closing of the operation for months.
Antitrust experts have said the agency is unlikely to find evidence that Musk’s purchase of Twitter is illegal under US antitrust law.
The FTC is already investigating Musk’s initial purchase of a 9% stake in Twitter, to find out whether he met an antitrust disclosure requirement when he bought the shares in early April.
The agreement has the support of Republicans, who hope that the conservatives and their supporters expelled from the site can return.
Although Musk has tweeted about freedom of expression, when discussing his plans for Twitter he focuses more on boosting revenue through more people using the social network or cuts in expenses such as executive compensation.
He has said nothing publicly about allowing kicked-out users back, including former President Donald Trump.