Twitter's $7.75M Payout to Whistleblower Violates Elon Musk's Acquisition Deal

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Twitter's $7.75 million severance payment to the whistleblower violates the terms of the Elon Musk acquisition deal, his lawyers told the platform. This was another reason why the deal could be terminated.

Elon Musk continues to fight for his right to terminate the deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. The social media platform misled him and investors about the actual number of bot accounts on the platform, as it claimed in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the number was below 5%. Independent studies and Twitter whistleblower complaints show that their number is higher than stated.

A recent complaint published by fired security chief Peiter “Mudge” Zatko on Twitter confirms Musk's concerns about bot/fake accounts on the platform. However, it was recently revealed that Twitter paid Zatko $7.75 million in a separation agreement on June 28.

Musk's lawyers said Friday that, as part of the purchase deal, Twitter had to notify their client before it spent $7.75 million in a split deal with the company's former security chief on June 28. Musk's lawyers said they only learned of Zatko's deal on September 3, when Twitter filed documents with the court.

This is the third time Musk has told Twitter officials he is withdrawing his bid to buy the platform due to violations of a buyout agreement covering transactions. “This severance payment violated” the requirement that Twitter executives run the company “in the ordinary course of business” while the legal dispute continues to be settled.

© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.

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