Twitter sued Elon Musk on July 12 in Delaware to force him to go through with his $44 billion takeover bid. Musk said he wanted out because the company hadn’t provided the necessary data and information he needed to assess the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on its platform. Musk later countersued, accusing Twitter of fraud for misrepresenting the condition of its business and key metrics about the users on its platform. A new whistleblower complaint against Twitter does not improve the company’s position, to say the least.
The whistleblower complaint was submitted last month to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by Twitter‘s former head of security, Peiter Zatko, who was fired by Twitter earlier this year. In his complaint, Zatko accused the social media platform of failing to protect sensitive user data and making misleading regulatory disclosures about spam and fake accounts, an issue at the center of Elon Musk’s stated reasons for abandoning the deal.
Recently, Elon Musk shared a Washington Post report on Twitter covering the whistleblower complaint of Zatko and the spam prevalence problem:
A Twitter spokeswoman said that Zatko’s complaint “is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context.” The company declined to comment on how the whistleblower complaint would affect its lawsuit against Musk. Musk’s attorney previously said he sent a subpoena to Zatko and found his exit curious.
