Elon Musk Allowed to Use Whistleblower Claims in Case Against Twitter, Trial to Start in October

Musk has claimed in his legal defence that Twitter misrepresented data on bot accounts.

Written by Siddhant Chandra, Edited by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 8 September 2022 13:46 IST

Elon Musk Allowed to Use Whistleblower Claims in Case Against Twitter, Trial to Start in October

Photo Credit: Reuters

Twitter claims that Musk got cold feet due to rising inflation, global political issues

Highlights

Elon Musk had agreed to buy Twitter in a $44 billion deal
His legal team wanted to delay the trial to investigate Zatko’s claims
Twitter is asking Musk to pay a $1 billion termination fee

Elon Musk will be allowed to use the claims made by whistleblower Peiter Zatko (also known as Mudge) in the trial against Twitter for walking away from the $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3.5 lakh crore) takeover deal. However, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware's Court of Chancery reportedly confirmed that the trial will begin in October and will not be delayed. Musk's legal team had reportedly argued to delay the five-day trial, so it could investigate the claims made by Zatko.

According to Reuters, Musk will be able to use Zatko's claims in his legal defence, which purportedly suggest that Twitter had knowingly hidden security weaknesses and data privacy issues.

Musk has claimed that the reason for walking away from the $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3.5 lakh crore) deal was because Twitter misrepresented the data surrounding bot accounts on its platform.

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However, Twitter seemingly claims that Musk got cold feet due to rising inflation and global political instability after signing the deal to acquire the social media platform for $54.20 (roughly Rs. 4,500) per share.

Furthermore, Twitter's lawyer read a message sent by Musk that seemed to suggest that Musk was not concerned about bot accounts. It reportedly indicated that Musk was not interested in acquiring Twitter if the world was "heading into World War III."

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Notably, the contract allows Musk to walk away from the deal under certain conditions, however, war is not specifically mentioned, the report says. If he loses this case, Musk would be required to pay a $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,000 crore) termination fee.

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