Elon Musk accuses Twitter of security lapses in court filing

Billionaire Elon Musk accused Twitter of fraud by concealing severe flaws within the social media firm’s knowledge safety, which the entrepreneur mentioned ought to permit him to finish his $44 billion deal for the corporate, based on a Thursday court docket submitting.

Musk, the world’s richest individual, amended his beforehand filed lawsuit by adopting allegations by a Twitter whistleblower, who advised Congress on Tuesday of meddling on the influential social media platform by international brokers.

The chief government of electrical automobile maker Tesla additionally alleged that Twitter hid from him that it was not complying with a 2011 settlement with the Federal Commerce Fee relating to consumer knowledge.

“Evidently, the most recent revelations make undeniably clear that the Musk Events have the complete proper to stroll away from the Merger Settlement — for quite a few independently adequate causes,” mentioned the amended countersuit.

Twitter mentioned in an announcement it appeared ahead to the five-day trial scheduled to start out Oct. 17 in Delaware. “Mr. Musk’s claims are factually inaccurate, legally inadequate and commercially irrelevant,” the corporate mentioned.

Musk mentioned the claims by the whistleblower, former head of Twitter safety Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, amounted to fraud and breach of contract by Twitter.

Musk has requested a Delaware decide to seek out that he was not obligated to shut the deal whereas Twitter desires the decide to order Musk to purchase the corporate for $54.20 per share.

Twitter has mentioned it carried out an inside investigation of Zatko’s allegations and decided they lacked advantage. The corporate has mentioned Zatko was fired for poor efficiency.

Twitter’s legal professionals have mentioned in court docket that the whistleblower claims that Musk folded into his case had been both not grounds for terminating the deal settlement or failed to satisfy the usual for fraud.