Explained: How Twitter’s new whistleblower may end up helping Elon Musk in the legal battle against the company – Times of India

Twitter is currently involved in a legal battle with Tesla CEO Elon Musk as he attempted to back out of a $44 billion deal to buy the social media company. To explain his decision about pulling out of the deal, Musk has cited Twitter’s failure to provide details about the prevalence of chatbots and spam accounts. However, a recent revelation from a whistleblower might help Musk to back out of the Twitter deal in the ongoing court battle.
According to a report by The Guardian, Twitter’s former security chief, Peiter Zatko, has turned into a whistleblower and has alleged “widespread security threats and spam concerns” about the company. Zatko has reportedly written an 84-page complaint against the company which alleges Twitter prioritising “user growth over reducing spam.” He also accused Twitter of not having a plan “for major security issues” and mentioned that “half the company’s servers were running out-of-date and vulnerable software.”
What are Twitter bots
Third-party vendors use Twitter’s public API (application programming interface) to create automated accounts which are also known as bots. These bots can perform almost all the actions like a real human user on the micro-blogging platform which include — sending out tweets, following other users, and liking and retweeting other people’s posts. Some organisations, as well as individuals, work with third-party companies to automate their responses to reduce human dependency.

However, some bots are created to spam other accounts that can use these abilities for “potentially deceptive, harmful or annoying activity.” According to a Bloomberg report, spam bots programmed with a commercial intent might tweet constantly to increase the traffic of a — website, product or service. Moreover, these bots can also be used to spread fake news and promote political agendas. Apart from this, spam bots can also circulate links to fake giveaways and other financial scams.
Why does Elon Musk have a problem with bots
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, while revealing his plans to acquire Twitter, announced that one of his priorities was to crack down on spam bots that promote scams involving cryptocurrencies on the micro-blogging site. Musk was concerned about the fake accounts mimicking his name and likeness to promote cryptocurrency scams as he thought this was a major issue for most other Twitter users, as well as advertisers who sell ads on the platform relying on the number of real users.
At a conference in May, Musk estimated that at least 20% of Twitter’s 229 million accounts are spam bots, while the company’s CEO, Parag Agrawal stuck to his statement about having less than 5% of fake Twitter accounts. The issue with the numbers accounting for Twitter’s spam accounts was the cause for Musk to try to back out of the deal which eventually turned the whole thing into a bitter court battle.
How the recent whistleblower information might help Elon Musk
As per the report, it is not clear how Elon Musk’s legal team will use the new developments in the case, however, his lawyers have subpoenaed Peiter Zatko for more information. The report also states that Musk has to prove a “material adverse effect” to walk away from the Twitter deal without paying a $1 billion termination fee. This clause needs the plaintiff to prove an event that will significantly reduce the long-term value of an acquisition.
Previously, Musk was dependent upon the accusations that Twitter misrepresented the actual number of spam and bot accounts on its platform, which the company has estimated to make up just 5% of accounts in its corporate filings.
In reply, Musk stated that he relied on those filings when he offered to buy the company and Twitter has counter alleged the billionaire of misusing the issue as an excuse to walk away from the deal. The company has said in a filing that Musk’s claims were based on “distortion, misrepresentation, and outright deception”.

However, the new whistleblower allegations add another dimension to his argument, the report suggests, as they include more claims about Twitter failing to disclose weaknesses in its security and data privacy and providing “a different basis for fraud”.
Meanwhile, Twitter’s global vice president of communications, Rebecca Hahn, has said that Zatko’s account lacked “important context,” the report adds. Hahn said, “Zatko’s allegations and opportunistic timing appear designed to capture attention and inflict harm on Twitter, its customers and its shareholders.” She also added that the company has been prioritising security and privacy for a long time and will continue to do so.
The legal battle continues as both sides try to gather more evidence against each other before the trial begins in Delaware on October 17. As per the report, Elon Musk’s team has also subpoenaed former executive Jack Dorsey for more information. On the other hand, Twitter has even subpoenaed some high-profile witnesses including — venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and Paypal founding chief operating officer David Sacks.