How Whistleblower's Allegations Could Give Advantage To Elon Musk Against Twitter

Microblogging platform Twitter is in news again after a whistleblower made revelations over security and other issues. 

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

Besides, the whistleblower has also alleged India had “forced” Twitter to hire “government agents” who had access to sensitive user data.

The allegations come at a time when the social network is embroiled in a court battle with Elon Musk who scrapped a $44 billion acquisition deal.

Musk had accused Twitter of not revealing transparent information on the spam accounts.

What Twitter’s whistleblower Peiter Zatko has alleged?

Peiter Zatko, former head of safety at Twitter has complained about critical security flaws on the social media platform and that it may not be deleting the data of users who have left the platform. Besides, Zatko has claimed that Twitter misled the public about its spam accounts.

He alleged Twitter permitted an “Indian government agent [to have] direct unsupervised access to the company’s systems and user data”.

“The company did not in fact disclose to users that it was believed by the executive team that the Indian government had succeeded in placing agents on the company payroll,” Zatko said in his complaint.

He added India’s government, along with the governments of Russia and Nigeria, “sought, with varying success, to force Twitter to hire local FTEs (full-time employees) that could be used as leverage”.

However, a Twitter spokesperson has denied the allegations stating that Zatko was fired from his role in the company in January 2022 for “ineffective leadership and poor performance”.

“What we’ve seen so far is a false narrative about Twitter and our privacy and data security practices that are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context. Mr Zatko’s allegations and opportunistic timing appear designed to capture attention and inflict harm on Twitter, its customers and its shareholders. Security and privacy have long been company-wide priorities at Twitter and will continue to be,” the company spokesperson said.

How whistleblower revelations may benefit Elon Musk in the legal battle

Twitter is engaged in a high-stakes legal battle with Musk over his attempt to pull out of his earlier $44 billion bid to buy the social media company.

In April this year, Musk offered to buy Twitter but put the deal on hold in July citing the spam or fake accounts on the platform after which 

Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk. The legal dispute is set to go to trial in Delaware Chancery Court in October.

Musk justified his withdrawal from the $44 billion-deal stating that Twitter was being evasive about bot and spam accounts on the platform.

Twitter has often claimed that fake or spam accounts represent less than 5% of the daily active users. 

But Zatko's disclosure claims the statistic might not present a full picture of the number of spam accounts on the platform.

Thus, the revelations by Zatko may be crucial and give an advantage to Musk in the court battle.

According to a news report in Time, Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, said his team had already subpoenaed Zatko before the whistleblower disclosure became public. 

“We found his exit and that of other key employees curious in light of what we have been finding,” Spiro says, adding that Musk’s legal team has had no contact with Zatko or his attorneys.

The allegations by Zatko give his case a new dimension since they raise further allegations that Twitter concealed security and data privacy flaws and offer "a different basis for fraud."

On Thursday, Twitter was ordered to hand over more information about spam and bot accounts to Musk. Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick Thursday ruled Twitter must turn over information about 9,000 accounts it surveyed last year in hopes of identifying which had human beings attached to them. 

Twitter also “must produce documents sufficient to show how those 9,000 accounts were selected for review,” McCormick said in her ruling. 

We look forward to reviewing the data Twitter has been hiding for many months,” Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Musk, said in an emailed statement.

Twitter is also involved in a legal battle with India’s government over some of its content blocking orders.

On Thursday, a day after the whistleblower allegations, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, summoned executives of Twitter for a hearing. According to an Indian Express report, Opposition members of Parliament are likely to grill Twitter’s executives following the allegations.