A court filing has revealed that billionaire Elon Musk has accused Twitter Inc of fraud by concealing serious flaws in the social media company’s data security.
Following the allegations made by a Twitter whistleblower, Musk amended his previously filed lawsuit. The whistleblower claimed that there was meddling on the influential social media platform by foreign agents.
Alleging that Twitter was not complying with a 2011 agreement with the Federal Trade Commission regarding user data, Musk said he has a full right to walk away from his offer to buy the San Francisco-based company for $44 billion.
In response to Musk’s allegations, Twitter said “Mr Musk’s claims are factually inaccurate, legally insufficient and commercially irrelevant.”
Also read | Elon Musk blames Russia-Ukraine conflict for delaying Twitter’s buyout deal
The former head of Twitter security Peiter “Mudge” Zatko was fired by the company for poor performance following which he told the US Congress that the platform ignored his security concerns.
Pointing out that he tried alerting management to grave vulnerabilities to hacking, Zatko contended that employees across the company had too much access to user data.
Saying that Zatko’s claims amounted to fraud and breach of contract by Twitter, Musk said he has asked a Delaware judge to find that he was not obligated to close the deal.
Highlighting that Zatko’s accusations were not grounds for terminating the deal agreement, Twitter said it conducted an internal investigation of his allegations and reached the conclusion that they lacked merit.
(With inputs from agencies)
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