Jessica Melugin of the Competitive Enterprise Institute discusses the security concerns associated with big social media companies like Twitter, TikTok and Meta
Elon Musk’s legal team amended its countersuit against Twitter on Thursday to include allegations by the social media giant’s former head of security, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko.
Musk’s counterclaim alleges that Twitter violated its obligations under its $44 billion acquisition agreement by misrepresenting the total number of spam and fake accounts on its platform. Twitter has claimed that spam and fake accounts make up less than 5% of its users.
“Needless to say, the latest revelations make it undeniably clear that the Musk parties have the absolute right to withdraw from the merger agreement — for numerous independently sufficient reasons,” the filing reads.
Twitter whistleblower Peiter Zatko testifies at a Senate Judiciary hearing investigating data breaches Tuesday, September 13, 2022, in Washington, DC (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin / AP Newsroom)
Zatko filed an 84-page whistleblower complaint with Congress, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department in July, accusing Twitter of “extreme, egregious deficiencies” in its cybersecurity. He testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week that the Indian government had hired an agent on Twitter and that he had been alerted to “at least one agent” from the Chinese government’s intelligence agency who was “on the payroll.”
In addition to Twitter’s security flaws, Zatko claimed in the complaint that Twitter executives “have no incentive to accurately ‘discover’ or report spam bots on the platform.” Instead, they are allegedly incentivized to increase the company’s monetizable daily active users (mDAU) with bonuses that can exceed $10 million. He also claims that Twitter does not have the resources to fully understand the true number of bots on the platform.
| ticker | security | Last | change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TWTR | Twitter Inc. | 41.40 | -0.74 | -1.76% |
TWITTER SHAREHOLDERS VOTE TO APPROVE ELON MUSK’S $44B ACQUISITION
“Confronted with Zatko’s devastating analysis, Twitter did exactly what Elon Musk had done when he started asking questions about the fake and spam accounts and mDAU: Ignored and hid the issues and attacked the messenger,” reads in Musk’s amended counterclaim.
“As for Musk, Twitter blocked his requests for information, violated his rights under the merger agreement, and then filed this baseless lawsuit after rightfully terminating the deal. Both episodes expose the tremendous and unlawful efforts Twitter will make to avoid disclosing the true state of the company — its “key” financial metrics, security infrastructure, intellectual property infringement and regulatory compliance — to the public.”
“In short, the Musk parties and Twitter’s many other investors were sold to a different company than the actual Twitter — one that was more valuable, more popular, more secure, and more compliant with the law,” the lawsuit adds.
Musk said Twitter refused to explain how they charge bots, calling it “very suspicious” (Getty images | istock)
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The amended countersuit comes as Twitter prepares to take Musk to court in a five-day trial scheduled to begin Oct. 17. In addition to the counterclaim, Musk has filed three separate termination letters to walk away from the deal, which Twitter has called “invalid and false.”
“Mr Musk’s allegations are factually inaccurate, legally inadequate and economically irrelevant,” a Twitter spokesman told FOX Business on Friday. “We look forward to the trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery.”
On Wednesday, Twitter shareholders voted to acquire Musk.