Former Twitter executive Peiter Zatko received a subpoena on Saturday, Aug. 28, from Tesla's Elon Musk and his team of lawyers.
After revealing Twitter's chaotic environment and lack of resources to remove spam accounts, Zatko became the weapon Musk needed to back out of his $44 billion Twitter deal scot-free.
Zatko Receives Subpoena From Musk
According to Bloomberg, Musk is seeking documents and communications on Twitter's spam and alleged security vulnerabilities as the billionaire fights to end his deal to purchase Twitter.
Musk sought information from Zatko about how Twitter calculates the platform's spam accounts.
He also wants the documents that prove the platform tried to hide its security weakness from authorities and that it engaged in unlawful activities.
According to CNBC, Musk backed out of the deal because the company misled him and government regulators about the real number of spam or bot accounts on the platform.
One of Musk's attorneys, Mike Ringler, said that Twitter has not complied with its contractual obligations, so they had no choice but to terminate the deal.
Ringler claimed that the $44 billion contract between Musk and Twitter included the condition that the social media company provide Musk with copies of relevant business information so he could assess the number of spam accounts on the platform and review its monetizable daily active users.
Twitter said that only 5% of its daily active users are spam accounts, but Musk believes the number is higher.
Ringler added that there were instances wherein Twitter ignored Musk's requests and rejected them for unjustified reasons. In other cases, Twitter would provide Musk with incomplete or unusable information.
Twitter Fights Back
After Musk announced that he would be walking away from the deal, Twitter asked a Delaware court to order Musk to complete the merger.
According to BBC, the lawsuit said that Musk made a public spectacle in purchasing Twitter, having proposed and signed a seller-friendly merger agreement.
The court does not want Musk to think he can change his mind anytime because the deal had disrupted operations and destroyed stockholder value.
The lawsuit accused Musk of several violations of the merger agreement that have negatively affected Twitter and its operations.
Bret Taylor, Twitter chairman, wants to hold Musk accountable for his contractual obligations. The lawsuit said that Musk only backed out because it no longer serves his interests.
According to the lawsuit, the stock market fell after Musk agreed to purchase Twitter, so he changed his mind as Tesla was also affected. He no longer wants his name associated with the deal and turned the tables on Twitter stockholders.
Twitter Whistleblower
Months after Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk, denying his claims, its former head of security stepped forward to unveil the company's severe privacy and security issues.
According to CNN, Zatko admitted that Twitter's security and privacy vulnerabilities could risk users, investors, and US democracy.
Zatko also said that Twitter executives had misled regulators and its board of directors about its shortcomings.
Twitter responded to Zatko's claims calling them inaccurate and inconsistent.
Related Article: Judge Grants Elon Musk Access to 9,000 Twitter Data to Determine Spam Accounts on the Platform
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Written by Sophie Webster
