WTF? ! As lawyers representing Elon Musk and Twitter argue over whether a whistleblower’s allegations can be added to the former’s lawsuit, the company says one of the reasons Musk pulled out of the acquisition was concerns about the start of World War III.
Last week, former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko, nicknamed “Mudge”, claimed his former employer lied about his security protocols and fake accounts. Unsurprisingly, Musk’s legal team moved quickly to subpoena Zatko to testify in the upcoming trial in which the billionaire will try to evade the deal without paying a billion-dollar termination fee.
Musk’s lawyer is now asking the judge to postpone the trial for several weeks so that Zatko’s allegations can be considered. “Isn’t justice asking for a few weeks to look into this? said Alex Spiro during a hearing in Delaware.
In what marks the company’s first public response to Zatko’s allegations, Twitter called them a “false narrative”, adding that the former worker had a “huge ax to grind” against the company and that he didn’t. was not responsible for the spam during his time at Twitter.
On a $/bot basis, this offer is awesome
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 1, 2022
Zatko’s lawyers say he never chose to go public with his accusations for Musk’s benefit, although Twitter disagrees. Lawyers for the company say that, much like the spam account argument, Musk is jumping on the allegations as a way to escape a deal he agreed to without first doing his due diligence.
Twitter lawyers also pointed to an SMS sent by Musk to his banker at Morgan Stanley on May 3 that read, “Let’s slow down for a few days […] it won’t make sense to buy Twitter if we’re heading into World War III. »
“That’s why Mr. Musk didn’t want to buy Twitter, that bot thing, mDAU [monetizable daily active users] and Zatko is just a pretense,” Twitter representative William Savitt said. He said if the judge allows Zatko’s testimony to be added, the five-day trial should still continue on its scheduled Oct. 17 date.
Zatko claimed Twitter violated its 2011 agreement with the FTC by not maintaining a comprehensive security plan. He also said that senior executives engaged in misleading and/or misleading communications affecting board members, users and shareholders, and that CEO Parag Agrawal asked him to provide false and misleading documents.
Twitter wants to force Musk to buy the company at the previously agreed price of $54.20 per share. Its stock price is currently $38.65.