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Elon Musk has subpoenaed a Twitter whistleblower, seeking documents and communications on the company’s spam and alleged security vulnerabilities as he battles to end an agreement to buy Twitter for $US44 billion ($A64 billion), a court filing shows.
Musk sought information from whistleblower Peiter Zatko on Monday, mostly about the way Twitter measures spam accounts.
Read here: Ex-security chief exposes Twitter’s cybersecurity misrepresentation (commsroom.co)
The billionaire has said he is walking away from the deal for the social media company because Twitter misled him and regulators about the true number of spam or bot accounts on the microblogging platform.
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, which became public last week, that the company falsely claimed it had a solid security plan.
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The information Musk obtains from Zatko might lay the groundwork for the Tesla chief executive to introduce new fraud claims in his legal battle with Twitter, says Ann Lipton, a professor at Tulane University Law School.
However, she said it was unclear if the judge in the Twitter litigation would allow Musk to introduce those claims given the tight schedule for the case and because Musk waived due diligence before signing the deal contract.
A Twitter attorney said at a court hearing last week that Musk’s focus on spam as a way to end his agreement to buy the company was “legally irrelevant” because Twitter always said its spam counts were only estimates, not binding representations.
The two sides have sued each other and are heading to a five-day trial on October 17.
Musk wants out of the deal and Twitter is asking Chance llor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Cha ncery to order him to buy the company for the agreed $US54.20 per share.
Twitter’s stock ended down one per cent at $US40.04 on Monday in New York.
With AAP. (Content has been tweaked for length and style.)
Jaw de Guzman is the content producer for Comms Room, a knowledge platform and website aimed at assisting the communications industry and its professionals.
