Tesla Billionaire Elon Musk going after documents on the company’s spam, claiming it deceived him about the actual number of bot accounts
Elon Musk has subpoenaed a former Twitter employee who has blamed the social media company for security vulnerabilities and poor spam policies as the billionaire battles to walk away from his $44bn agreement to take over Twitter.
Musk is going after documents and communications from Twitter’s former security chief, Peiter Zatko, who last week filed an 84-page whistleblower complaint alleging the company is running severely outdated software and lagging in its battle against spam accounts.
Musk is also going after information about alleged attempts to conceal security weaknesses and “Twitter’s engagement in any unlawful activity”.
Zatko’s claims come weeks after Musk declared he wanted to bail out of his deal to take over Twitter. Musk has stated Twitter deceived him and regulators about the actual number of bot or spam accounts on the microblogging platform.
A well-known hacker known as “Mudge”, Zatko was employed by Twitter in 2020 to enhance security after an extensive hack targeted 130 high-profile accounts.
He completed his term as the head of Twitter’s security in 2022 and has said in a whistleblower complaint that the company has misled board members, users, and the federal government about the strength of its security measures.
Twitter Denies Allegations
Twitter has denied Zatko’s allegations and has said he was dismissed for poor leadership and performance.
Both parties have sued each other and are going towards a five-day trial on 17 October. Musk wants out of the deal and Twitter is requesting Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware court of chancery to instruct him to buy the company for the approved $54.20 per share.
Buy Crypto NowA Twitter attorney said at a court hearing last week that Musk’s focus on spam as a way to back out from his agreement to take over the company was “legally irrelevant” because Twitter always said its spam counts were only estimates, not binding representations.
Twitter’s stock dropped slightly to $40.36 on Monday morning in New York.
