- Zatko accused Twitter of lax security and other mistakes during his time as a top executive.
- He also sided with Elon Musk in claiming that “worlds” are not properly accounted for on the platform.
- Twitter now wants to know if Zatko had previous dealings with Musk or those on his side of the deal.
A former Twitter executive recently became a whistleblower, pointing out the company’s lax security and stating that there is indeed a problem with how it accounts for fake or spam accounts, as Elon Musk has said . Now, Twitter wants to know if the executive has any connection to the billionaire.
As part of the ongoing lawsuit filed against Musk to force him to buy the platform for a previously agreed upon amount of $44 billion, Twitter recently asked Musk and his lawyers to produce all communications between them, as well as various parties who have agreed to finance his acquisition, and Pieter “Mudge” Zatko. Zatko worked for about a year as Twitter’s chief information security officer and in July submitted a whistleblower disclosure against the company to Congress.
Judge Kathleen McCormick, who is overseeing the lawsuit in Delaware, on Thursday ordered Musk’s side to provide at least some of the documents sought by Twitter about Zatko as a condition for his lawyers to amend their complaint against Twitter to the second time. .
“Plaintiff’s request that the court allow the amendment subject to conditions relating to discovery related to the amendment is reasonable,” Judge McCormick said.
The additional disclosure Twitter is seeking about Zatko includes “all communications” and “any document reflecting, referencing or summarizing such communications” from December 2021 to August 2022 between Musk, his representatives, advisers, lenders or co-investors , and Zatko. It is also seeking the same field of communications from the same parties and during the same time frame that is “related” to the disclosure of Zatko and his informant, as well as a response to a form asking the parties whether Musk or someone working for him did work for or “receive information” from Zatko between November 2020 and August 2022.
Judge McCormick said she will decide exactly how much of that discovery must be turned over after a hearing on the case set for next week. The case is scheduled for trial in the week of October 17.
Representatives for Twitter and Musk could not immediately be reached for comment.
In his disclosure of the whistleblower and subsequent public appearance before Congress, Zatko claimed that Twitter’s engineering and security protocols were lacking to such an extent that foreign agents were employed there and that he was barred from presented his full findings to the company’s board. He also came out on the side of Musk and his claims that Twitter has more “bots” or fake accounts that it publicly discloses. Part of Zatko’s disclosure is titled “Bots lie about Elon Musk” and accuses Twitter of misrepresenting how it counts and combats spam accounts, saying “Elon Musk is correct.”
Zatko’s lawyers previously told CNN that he had not been in contact with Musk.
Twitter has denied Zatko’s claims and said he was fired for performance issues. The company now appears to be curious about whether Zatko had any kind of prior relationship with Musk, his lawyers or the nearly 20 parties who agreed to finance his purchase. Outside financiers of the buyout include Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, among others.
Musk’s lawyers have objected to providing such communications, Judge McCormick said. First, they argued the request was coming too late, then disputed the involvement of Morgan Stanley, Musk’s personal lender, in the deal, then said they had “no reason to believe” such documents existed, then said the request it was “too heavy”. The judge demanded that Musk’s lawyers clarify what, if anything, they are willing to produce about Zatko before next week’s hearing.
Are you a Twitter employee or someone with knowledge to share? Contact Kali Hays at [email protected], in the secure messaging app The signal at 949-280-0267, or via Twitter DM at @hayskali. Stretch using a device that doesn’t work.
