Twitter whistleblower has just handed Elon Musk major ammunition in his battle over bots — and his lawyers are already on the case

BYTRISTAN BOVE

Would-be Twitter buyer Elon Musk’s is actively trying to pull out of the $44 billion takeover deal as he claims the platform is filled with many more bot accounts than first advertised.

As it turns out, he may be right, based on new testimony.

The social media app’s management has allegedly created threats to U.S. national security, democracy, and user privacy, according to the bombshell account of a former Twitter executive, who also claims that the company never had the ability or the interest to accurately tally the number of bot accounts on the platform.

The explosive allegations are being leveled at Twitter by former head of security and prolific hacker Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, who joined the company in November 2020 and was fired by CEO Parag Agrawal in January 2022.

Last month, Zatko filed a complaint reportedly totaling over 200 pages with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) detailing the issues at Twitter and its failure to maintain adequate security standards.

The full complaint was obtained and published in a redacted form on Tuesday by CNN and the Washington Post.  Read more »