Former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko has filed a series of whistleblower complaints to regulators. These complaints were made public on Tuesday and accused Twitter of security malpractice and misleading authorities and its own board.
Twitter fired Zatko in January 2022. He reportedly started working on these now public documents in March of 2022. Zatko claims that Twitter’s Head of Site Integrity told him that the social media company was unaware of how many bot accounts existed on the site.
The issue of spam-bot accounts and how many there were on Twitter caused Musk to step away from his deal to purchase the social media giant.
With the trial between Twitter and Musk set to take place in October, this stunning revelation may help the billionaire in his case to back out of buying the social media platform. Analysts who had said that Twitter had a stronger argument than the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX may start singing a new song.
Zatko’s lawyer told CNN that there is no contact with Musk and that this complaint wasn’t put out at this time to help or hurt the ongoing legal battle between the social media platform and Musk.
While this can boost Musk and his team as they prep for the October trial, more evidence is needed to back up Zatko’s complaints and allegations.
Twitter has denied and pushed back on claims that Musk has previously made about spam accounts and quickly did the same with Zatko’s allegations. A spokesperson for Twitter said, “Allegations and opportunistic timing appear designed to capture attention and inflict harm on Twitter, its customers, and its shareholders.”
The company went even further with its efforts when it added, “Security and privacy have long been company-wide priorities at Twitter and will continue to be.”
Musk took to Twitter to mockingly share his feelings about the news:
