Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, the former head of security at Twitter, has alleged in a whistleblower complaint that he uncovered "extreme, egregious deficiencies" by Twitter surrounding user privacy, security and content moderation.
Zatko, who Twitter fired in January, accuses the company, its executives and board of directors of violating federal law by making "false and misleading" to users and the Federal Trade Commission.
"Mudge spent 14 months pushing for improvements from the inside, and was terminated for his efforts," the complaint says. Nonprofit law firm Whistleblower Aid is representing Zatko and confirmed to CNET that the complaint is authentic. Zatko filed the 84-page complaint in July to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice and the FTC.
The allegations come at a tumultuous time for Twitter. The influential social media company is in a high-profile legal battle with billionaire Elon Musk after the Tesla and SpaceX leader tried to back out of a $44 billion deal to purchase Twitter. The tech platform sued Musk to complete the deal, and a five-day trial is scheduled for October.
Musk is trying to use the whistleblower disclosure as part of his argument to bail on the deal. His legal team filed amended counterclaims against Twitter, made public Thursday, that allege the company's purported misrepresentations about its daily users "were only one component of a broader conspiracy among Twitter executives to deceive the public, its investors, and...
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