A former top executive at Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) has alleged the social media platform does not know many bots are on its platform and that is riddled with dangerous security problems.
Peiter Zatko was until recently Twitter’s head of security and his claims that the company misled regulators and is much less safe than it has suggested come ahead of its court battle with Elon Musk.
Musk and Twitter are scheduled to appear in court in October as part of the Tesla chief executive's attempt to reverse out of his US$44bn takeover due to the number of bots.
Some other allegations by Zalko include Twitter being made aware by the US government that one of its employees was working for a foreign intelligence service, poor basic security practices and that the platform is susceptible to foreign hacking or spying.
John Tye, who is Zatko’s lawyer and founder of Whistleblower Aid, said the former Twitter employee has had no contact with Musk and began the process before there was any indication teh Tesla boss would look to buy the company.
Additionally, Zatko said Twitter employees had access to important systems that could be used to cause political unrest in an official filing last month.
Twitter fired back, saying Zatko was fired from the company in January just two years into his role for ineffective leadership and poor performance.