Elon Musk’s legal team subpoenaed Twitter whistleblower Peiter Zatko to appear Sept. 9 for a deposition in an ongoing legal fight over the billionaire’s deal to acquire the social network for $44 billion.
The subpoena seeks any documents Zatko has related to his complaint to federal regulators that Twitter has misled the public about “extreme, egregious deficiencies” in its security practices, as well as any documents related to spam on the platform, the company’s attempts to hide its security vulnerabilities, and allegations that company employs foreign intelligence service agents.
The subpoena, which became public Monday, signals how Zatko’s allegations could factor into the litigation in Delaware’s Chancery Court between Musk and Twitter of the Tesla CEO’s efforts to back out of his pledge to acquire the social network. Musk has alleged that the company is vastly undercounting the number of spam and bot accounts on its platform, and therefore overstating the number of legitimate users.
“Mr. Zatko will comply with his legal obligations of that subpoena and his appearance at the deposition is involuntary,” Zatko’s lawyers, Debra S. Katz and Alexis Ronickher, said in a statement. “He did not make his whistleblower disclosures to the appropriate governmental bodies to benefit Musk or to harm Twitter, but rather to protect the American public and Twitter shareholders.”
Zatko’s complaint could add ammunition to Musk’s legal arguments. His complaint, which was filed last month...
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