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A judge in Delaware issued a major decision on Friday in a case between billionaire Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Twitter.
Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware’s Court of Chancery ruled that the social media platform must turn over more data on phony and bot accounts registered on Twitter, which is being viewed as a major victory for Musk.
That said, McCormick also rejected portions of Musk’s request, deeming them to be “absurdly broad,” as Yahoo News reports:
The judge ordered Twitter to hand over data on 9,000 accounts the firm audited at the end of 2021, which opens the door for that information to be used in Musk’s effort to quit the $44 billion deal.
Musk has argued Twitter was dishonest on the number of false or spam accounts, prompting strong denials and a lawsuit from the social media firm that has led to a trial set for mid-October.
“My overall impression is that plaintiff has agreed to produce a tremendous amount of information to defendants, and that the information plaintiff has agreed to produce is sufficiently broad to satisfy most of plaintiff’s obligations,” she wrote.
“Some additional data from plaintiff (Twitter) seems warranted,” McCormick added without further explanation in her four-page order.
“We look forward to reviewing the data Twitter has been hiding for many months,” said Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro.
Attorneys for Twitter argued that Musk simply wants a “do-over” because he failed to ask certain questions about the company before making his offer. They added that even if experts hired by Musk come to a different conclusion about the actual number of bot accounts than the platform, that still would not constitute a breach of contract on Twitter’s part.
Earlier this month, the judge said that Twitter had to collect the documents from a former top Twitter executive, review them and give them to Musk’s team, Reuters reported:
Bot and spam accounts on Twitter have become a central issue in the legal fight over whether Musk, who is Tesla Inc’s chief executive, must complete his $44 billion acquisition of the social media company.
Twitter was ordered to collect, review and produce documents from former General Manager of Consumer Product Kayvon Beykpour, according to the order …
Twitter and lawyers for Musk, the world’s richest person, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Beykpour, who left Twitter after the social media company agreed in April to be acquired by Musk, was described in Musk’s court filings as one of the executives “most intimately involved with” determining the amount of spam accounts.
But McCormack did deny Musk’s request for information from 21 other people who have control over the information he wants.
Last week, meanwhile, a former Twitter security executive turned whistleblower dropped some bombshells regarding the company’s interactions with Musk.
Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, the company’s former head of security who was personally hired by Twitter founder and then-CEO Jack Dorsey, said in an explosive interview that current management has not been upfront and honest with Musk regarding the number of fake, bot, and spam accounts on the platform.
In addition, Zatko, a former formidable hacker with a reputation in Silicon Valley who was fired by Twitter in January, also said that the platform’s security is so poor it has become a national security risk.
“Mr. Zatko was fired from his senior executive role at Twitter for poor performance and ineffective leadership over six months ago,” a Twitter spokesperson said. “While we haven’t had access to the specific allegations being referenced, what we’ve seen so far is a narrative about our privacy and data security practices that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies, and lacks important context.”
Musk has maintained for months that Twitter officials were not being straight with him regarding the number of fake accounts, which is why he tried backing out of the deal weeks ago. Twitter filed suit against Musk to complete the deal, but Musk filed a countersuit to force Twitter to reveal bot and spam account numbers.
“Zatko further alleges that Twitter’s leadership has misled its own board and government regulators about its security vulnerabilities, including some that could allegedly open the door to foreign spying or manipulation, hacking and disinformation campaigns,” CNN reported.
