What’s up with Twitter’s whistleblower?

Things are getting interesting before the Musk-Twitter showdown in October.

Whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko is shaking things up as Twitter prepares to face off against Elon Musk in court in October.

What’s up with Twitter’s whistleblower?

Zatko — an “ethical hacker” who’s worked with Google, Stripe, and the US Defense Department — is Twitter’s ex-head of cybersecurity.

His lawyers sent the report to Congress and federal agencies last month, per CNN.

What’s it say?

A lot, including:

  • Twitter lied about its spam and fake accounts being less than 5%.
  • Its reporting metric mDAU (monetizable daily active users) hides the number of fake accounts.
  • Execs don’t have the resources to know real numbers, nor are they incentivized to find out.
  • Leaders have misled Twitter’s board and the government about security vulnerabilities, including those that pose national security risks.
  • Twitter has never been in compliance with FTC demands from 2010.

Twitter’s official statement…

… is that Zatko’s report is a “false narrative” designed to harm the company.

But if Zatko’s claims are found to be credible, it could not only help Musk — who claims he abandoned his $44B Twitter purchase after it failed to provide info about fake accounts — but also mean big FTC fines.

BTW: Here’s Zatko sharing stories from his time with the Dept. of Defense at hacker convention DEF CON.

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