A former Twitter Inc executive turned whistleblower is set to testify on Tuesday before a U.S. Senate committee about his claims of serious security lapses at the social media network. The testimony comes the same day as reports have leaked that Twitter shareholders have voted to approve a takeover by Musk.
The testimony of Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, a famed hacker who served as Twitter‘s head of security until his firing last year, comes as Twitter and Musk head to trial next month over whether the $44 billion deal should be completed.
The San Francisco-based company sued Musk for terminating the agreement, while the Tesla chief executive countersued, accusing Twitter of misrepresenting the number of false and spam accounts on its service.
A Delaware judge ruled last week that Musk may include Zatko’s whistleblower claims in his case against Twitter, but denied his request to delay the trial.
On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to question Zatko on his claims that Twitter misled regulators about its compliance with a 2011 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over improper handling of user data.
Since then, Twitter has made “little meaningful progress on basic security, integrity and privacy systems,” Zatko’s complaint filed with regulators in July said.
The committee, chaired by U.S. Senator Dick Durban, is also expected to press Zatko on his allegation that one or more of Twitter‘s employees worked on behalf of foreign governments.
Durbin, speaking to reporters on Monday, said Zatko’s claims were “a matter of grave personal and privacy concern.”
Twitter has said Zatko was fired for “ineffective leadership and poor performance,” and that his allegations appeared designed to harm Twitter.
Zatko’s whistleblower complaint appeared to contain over two pages of links to supporting documents, such as emails between Zatko and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and an assessment of misinformation and disinformation on Twitter. The number of documents was limited compared to Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who released thousands of pages of internal material.
Shareholders vote in favor of buyout
A majority of Twitter Inc’s shareholders have voted in favor of the social media company’s $44 billion sale to Elon Musk, people familiar with the tally said on Monday.
The deadline for the shareholder vote on the deal is Tuesday but enough investors had voted by Monday evening for the outcome to be certain, the sources said.
The sources requested anonymity ahead of an official announcement. Twitter and representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Shareholders were widely expected to vote in favor after a stock market downturn made Musk’s $54.20-per-share deal for Twitter, which was signed in April, look pricey in the current environment. Twitter shares are now hovering around $41.
Earlier on Monday, Twitter said payments made to a whistleblower did not breach any terms of its sale to Musk, after the world’s richest man made another attempt to scrap the deal.
Twitter‘s lawyers said Musk’s reasons for wanting to back out of the deal were “invalid and wrongful.”
Last week, lawyers for Musk said Twitter‘s failure to seek his consent before paying $7.75 million to whistleblower Peiter Zatko and his lawyers violated the merger agreement, which restricts when Twitter could make such payments.
The Twitter vs Musk trial is scheduled to start on Oct. 17 in Delaware Chancery Court.
Lawyers for Musk, who is also CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc, were not immediately available for comment.
Copyright 2022 Thomson/Reuters (Edited for FISM News by Michael Cardinal)