Aug. 30 (UPI) — Elon Musk sent a second letter to Twitter, seeking to terminate his $44 billion agreement to buy the social media platform, citing allegations made by whistleblower Peiter Zatko, former Twitter chief security officer.
Earlier this month, Zatko disclosed cybersecurity problems at Twitter.
Musk’s newest letter, dated Monday, said that if allegations made by Zatko were true they would demonstrate a breach of certain provisions of the merger agreement.
Zatko, a former hacker who was recruited to Twitter in November 2020, has accused Twitter of lying about its security plan and said that 50% of its servers were outdated. Twitter previously said that Zatko was fired for “ineffective leadership and poor performance.”
Musk’s legal team has subpoenaed Zatko.
Monday’s letter is the latest in an ongoing battle between Musk and the social media giant stemming from Musk’s bid to buy the company.
In July, Musk sent a letter to Twitter seeking to abandon the deal, prompting Twitter to sue Musk for breach of contract. A nonjury trial is scheduled to take place in Delaware Chancery Court in October.
In a countersuit, Musk accused Twitter of misleading him about the company’s advertising base.
Musk said that the revelations in Monday’s letter are in addition to concerns over Twitter’s estimates about fake spam accounts, which were detailed in Musk’s first letter.
In a statement, Twitter rebuffed Musk’s letter and Zatko’s allegations.
“The letter is based solely on statements made by a third party that, as Twitter has previously stated, are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lack important context,” the company said. “Contrary to the assertions in Mr. Musk’s letter, Twitter has breached none of its representations or obligations under the Agreement, and Twitter has not suffered and is not likely to suffer a Company Material Adverse Effect.”
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