Elon Musk summons Twitter whistleblower, seeking info on spam, security
India Today
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has summoned Twitter whistleblower Peiter Zatko, seeking information on spam and security.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has summoned a Twitter Inc whistleblower and sought information on the company's spam and alleged security vulnerabilities as he struggles to end his pact to buy Twitter for $44 billion, according to a court filing on Monday.
Musk sought information from whistleblower Peiter Zatko mostly about the way Twitter measures spam accounts. Musk has said he is walking away from the deal for the company because Twitter misled him and regulators about the true number of spam or bot accounts on the microblogging platform.
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But Musk also sought documents and communications about alleged attempts to hide security weaknesses, compliance with a 2011 Federal Trade Commission agreement and "Twitter's engagement in any unlawful activity."
A spokesman for Twitter declined to comment.
A famed hacker widely known as "Mudge," Zatko ended a stint as the head of Twitter's security earlier this year, and said in his whistleblower complaint that became public last week that the company falsely claimed it had a solid security plan.
The information that Musk obtains from Zatko might lay the groundwork for the Tesla Inc chief executive to introduce new fraud claims in his legal battle with Twitter, according to Ann Lipton, a professor at Tulane University Law School.
