Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) has to provide Elon Musk with documents from a former Twitter executive who Musk said was a key figure in determining the number of fake accounts on the platform, according to an August 15 court order.
Spam and bot accounts on Twitter have become a major issue in the legal fight over whether Musk, chief executive of Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), must go through with his $44 billion acquisition of the social media company.
Twitter was instructed to obtain, assess, and produce documents from former General Manager of Consumer Product Kayvon Beykpour, the order from Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery showed.
The social media company and lawyers for Musk, the world’s richest person, did not promptly respond to requests for comment. Beykpour, who resigned from Twitter after the social media company reached a deal with Musk in April, was dubbed in Musk’s court filings as one of the executives “most intimately involved with” calculating the number of spam accounts.
Related: Musk Seeks To Interrogate Twitter Staff Who Calculate Bots
Beykpour did not instantly respond to a request for comment sent via LinkedIn. McCormick said in her order on Monday that she was rejecting Musk’s request for access to 21 other people in charge of relevant information.
Musk’s legal team had written to McCormick last week requesting her to instruct the social media platform to turn in employee names so they could be cross-examined.
Buy Crypto NowMusk blamed Twitter earlier this month for fraud by falsifying the amount of real active users on its platform, which it had denied. The company had blamed him for violating his agreement to acquire the company and wants McCormick to order him to go through with the deal at $54.20 a share.
Shares of Twitter climbed 0.5% closing at $44.50 per share on Monday.
