New York ( Business) — Elon Musk’s legal team has subpoenaed former Twitter security chief and whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko to appear in his legal fight against Twitter over its takeover deal on September 9.
The subpoena, sent Thursday and publicly filed Monday, comes days after Zatko publicly denounced the social media company, saying it has serious privacy and security vulnerabilities that could endanger users, investors, and consumers. the national security of the United States. The timing of the revelation came fortunately for Musk, who is fighting a lawsuit from Twitter that seeks to force him to go ahead with his $44 billion takeover deal after he tried to terminate the deal over claims that Twitter has more spam and fake bot accounts than it reveals publicly. The case is expected to go to trial in October.
In the disclosure, Zatko claimed that Twitter does not have an accurate count of the number of spam and fake bot accounts on its platform and that the company has little incentive to carry out a full count of such accounts, allegations that could give a boost to Musk’s claims. Twitter has criticized Zatko and widely disputed his accusations, saying the disclosure paints a “false narrative” of the company and is “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies.”
Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, told last week that Zatko had been subpoenaed in the case even before his complaint was made public. At a court hearing in the case last Wednesday, Spiro mentioned Zatko multiple times. Spiro suggested during the hearing that the billionaire’s team doesn’t trust Twitter’s estimate of spam accounts and monetizable daily active users (mDAU), a key metric it provides to investors, and said Musk’s team is requesting information that allows them to test the measurements.
The new subpoena is another indication of how Zatko’s claims could affect the case. In addition to the plea, Musk’s team also demanded in Thursday’s subpoena “books, documents, or tangible things in your possession” related to Twitter’s count of spam and fake Twitter accounts and its use of mDAU as a key metric.
Zatko’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the subpoena.
Zatko is also scheduled to testify about his allegations at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on September 13.
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