Just before announcing plans to resume a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter last week, Elon Musk alleged that Twitter ordered whistleblower Peiter Zatko to destroy evidence of company mistakes in his departure, as reported by Bloomberg.
Zatko is a former head of security at Twitter and a recent whistleblower to the social media company’s data on bot accounts.
In an October 3 filing from Musk’s legal team — which became public on Monday — Zatko said he was forced to burn 10 handwritten notebooks and delete 100 computer files as a part of his $7.8 million severance package when leaving the company.
Elon Musk Discusses Twitter, Mars, Biden and More in New Interview https://t.co/661hJ20n9h
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) October 7, 2022
Zatko’s claims were a major part of Musk’s arguments against Twitter in his reasoning for backing out of the deal.
“Twitter’s attempt to buy Mr. Zatko’s silence failed, but Twitter achieved its secondary aim of ensuring Mr. Zatko’s corroborating evidence would never come to light,” said Musk’s lawyers in the filing.
Still, despite the justification alleged for backing out of the deal, Musk changed his tune last week and once again agreed to buy Twitter at $54.20 per share — the company’s share price in April when the deal was initially negotiated.
Musk has said that purchasing Twitter will fast-track the creation of an ‘X’ app, or an “everything app,” which he has previously likened to China’s WeChat.
