Wilmington, 31 August 2022 (TDI): Elon Musk has subpoenaed a Twitter Inc. whistleblower to produce documents and communications regarding the company’s spam and alleged security vulnerabilities.
According to a court filing on Monday the billionaire fights to revoke his agreement to purchase Twitter for $44 billion.
WATCH: Citing a recent whistleblower complaint from Twitter’s former security head, Tesla chief Elon Musk sent an additional notice to terminate the $44 billion deal to buy the social media firm https://t.co/01tnQgcQOl pic.twitter.com/lFBdLfgObR
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 31, 2022
Elon Musk sought information from whistleblower Peiter Zatko mostly about the way Twitter measures spam accounts.
Moreover, Musk stated that he is pulling out of the company’s deal as Twitter deceived him and regulators about the actual amount of spam or bot accounts on the microblogging platform.
Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of usershttps://t.co/Y2t0QMuuyn
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2022
Musk has also sought documents and communications regarding alleged efforts to conceal security vulnerabilities, adherence to a 2011 deal with the Federal Trade Commission, and “Twitter’s engagement in any unlawful activity.”
Furthermore, famous hacker Peiter Zatko, known as “Mudge,” said last week that Twitter prioritized user growth over minimizing spam and made false claims about its security plan.
Consequently, Musk and his legal team responded that if the allegations are true, then Twitter has violated some of the provisions of the merger agreement.
However, Twitter said in its regulatory filing that the new termination notice was illegal and void under the terms of the agreement.
Also read: Pakistan responds to blockage of Diplomats’ Twitter accounts
Resorting to Legal action
According to Ann Lipton, a professor at Tulane University Law School, the information that Musk acquires from Zatko may be the foundation for the Tesla Inc. chief executive to present new fraud accusations in his legal dispute with Twitter.
Additionally, Musk has also issued a subpoena on Zatko, mainly to learn more about how the microblogging platform measures a spam account.
The latest development occurs as the two parties have sued each other and prepare for a five-day trial that will commence on October 17 at the Delaware Court of Chancery.
Nevertheless, Twitter is requesting that Chancellor Kathleen McCormick order Musk to purchase it for the agreed $54.20 per share. Also, before the bell, shares of Twitter were down 2.5% at $39.02.
