Elon Musk has subpoenaed a Twitter whistleblower, with his legal team demanding to hear from the social media platform’s former security chief, as the billionaire battles to end his agreement to buy the company for $44 billion, according to a court filing on Monday.
Former Twitter executive Peiter Zatko – also known by his hacker handle “Mudge” – received a subpoena Saturday from Musk’s team, seeking documents and communications on the company’s spam and alleged security vulnerabilities, according to Zatko’s lawyer and court records.
The billionaire Tesla CEO has spent months alleging that the company he agreed to acquire undercounted its fake and spam accounts – and that he shouldn’t have to consummate the deal as a result.
Musk sought information from Zatko mostly about the way Twitter measures spam accounts. Musk has said he is walking away from his deal for the 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 and “Twitter's engagement in any unlawful activity.”
A famed hacker, 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 and that it misled regulators about its privacy and security protections.
Zatko’s whistleblower complaint might play into Musk’s hands in an upcoming trial.
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 Oct. 17. Musk wants out of the deal and Twitter is asking Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery to order him to buy the company for the agreed $54.20 per share.
Twitter’s stock was down slightly at $40.36 on Monday morning in New York.
