Twitter is investigating if Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, its former head of security, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are connected after being battered by whistleblower allegations.
The US Delaware Court of Chancery, where the legal dispute is scheduled to start on October 17, has granted Twitter’s request for information on whether Musk or his colleagues were aware of Zatko’s allegations before he made them public.
On Thursday, Judge Kathleen McCormick issued an order directing Musk’s legal team to turn over some of the paperwork that Twitter had asked on any communications they may
have had with Zatko.
If any of Musk’s associates “had knowledge, whether directly or indirectly obtained from Zatko or any other source, of any criticisms, allegation, opinion, or view relating to Twitter that was made or held by Zatko or were attributed to Zatko, during the period November 1, 2020 through August 22, 2022,” the court ordered the Musk team to provide documents.
Additionally, Twitter is asking Musk’s legal team to provide them with any communications they made or received between December 1, 2021 and August 22, 2022 that have anything to do with “Zatko or his July 6 lawsuit, including any of the accusations included therein.”
Governments are now paying more attention to Twitter after Zatko said that the firm had poor security procedures, deceived federal regulators about its security, and under-estimated the amount of bots using its platform.
The Twitter trial is scheduled to begin on October 17, but the Tesla CEO is attempting to buy extra time from the judge by referring to Zatko’s evidence.
Musk claims that the evidence of a Twitter leaker validates his decision to cancel the $44 billion agreement to purchase the microblogging service.