After Twitter Whistleblower Claims, Elon Musk Looks To Delay Court Trial Till November

Last week, Twitter's former security chief Peiter Zatko filed an 84-page complaint against the social media platform stating it has more bots than it publicly acknowledges.

Zatko also claimed Twitter misled federal regulators about its defenses against hackers and spam accounts, adding that Twitter prioritized user growth over reducing spam.

The accusations come as Tesla chief Elon Musk looks to withdraw from the $44-billion deal to buy the Twitter, citing Twitter misled him on the number of false accounts, or bots, prompting strong denials and a lawsuit from the social media firm. The legal dispute is set to go to trial in Delaware Chancery Court in October.

Just after the whistleblower revelations, Elon Musk formally subpoenaed Zatko to share information about spam accounts on Twitter.

The billionaire hopes that allegations made by Zatko will bolster his case. ​​Zatko was also ordered to answer questions on the record for Musk lawyers on September 9.

As per reports, Musk is seeking to delay the trial until November and amend his complaint against the social media company, according to court filings.

Musk now says the problems go beyond the spam accounts, and include data security and other concerns raised by the whistleblower.

The court filings came after Musk's lawyer earlier in the day sent a fresh letter to Twitter to include a whistleblower complaint as another reason to scrap the deal.

Musk on Tuesday asked the judge to let both sides continue briefing their cases through Nov. 10, followed by a conference to discuss what evidence they can introduce at trial. Musk said a trial could begin later that month "subject to the court's availability."

Meanwhile, Twitter on Tuesday asked the court to deny Musk's request for an additional pre-2022 document, calling the motion a "maneuver to derail the trial schedule."