Judge orders Twitter to give Elon Musk former executive's documents:
Twitter Inc (TWTR.N)needs to give Elon Musk documents from a former Twitter executive who Musk said was a key figure in calculating the amount of fake accounts on the platform, according to a Monday court order.
Bot and spam accounts on Twitter have become a central issue in the legal fight over whether Musk, who is Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) 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 from Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery.
[...] 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.
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The pressure on Twitter to talk publicly about how it monitors and removes spam accounts continues to mount.
Reports from CNN and The Washington Post reveal an 84-page whistleblower complaint alleging that Twitter isn't motivated to track the true number of spam accounts and hid security vulnerabilities from federal regulators.
The complaint comes from Twitter's former security chief, Peiter Zatko. Zatko is a well-known ethical hacker with the alias "Mudge." He told the Post that he "felt ethically bound" to report his serious concerns to government agencies. He alleges that he was fired for pushing disinclined Twitter executives to address major security problems—which his complaint suggests "pose a threat" to Twitter "users' personal information, to company shareholders, to national security, and to democracy."
Zatko alleges that Twitter execs were more invested in covering up those vulnerabilities, including cherry-picking and misrepresenting data on spam accounts and security threats to regulators and Twitter's board members.
Previously:
Judge Orders Twitter to Give Elon Musk Former Executive's Documents
Elon Musk Pulls Deal to Buy Twitter
Twitter Reportedly Will Give Musk the Full "Firehose" of User Data
Elon Musk Accuses Twitter of Thwarting His Due Diligence, Threatens to Walk Out of Deal
Twitter Users React to Elon Musk Putting Buyout Deal 'on Hold'
Musk Buying Twitter Is Not About Freedom of Speech
After Musk's Twitter Takeover, an Open-Source Alternative is 'Exploding'
Elon Musk has just bought Twitter
Elon Musk Isn't Joining Twitter's Board of Directors After All
Elon Musk Will Join Twitter's Board of Directors
(Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Thursday August 18 2022, @12:32PM (3 children)
This is a standard part of any lawsuit, known as "discovery", where both sides get to demand documents and such from the other side. So I wouldn't read too much into this.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2022, @02:34PM (1 child)
You must be new here.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2022, @08:18PM
Actually you must be new here 'cause you are not clued to UI numbers. #636 says he's been here since F**k Beta.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DeathMonkey on Thursday August 18 2022, @03:17PM
Yeah, I was struggling to figure out why this is newsworthy...
But on the other hand it does give us all another opportunity to flame Musk so it's all good!
(Score: 3, Funny) by EJ on Thursday August 18 2022, @12:55PM (10 children)
I'd love to see this end with the deal falling apart, Musk not being required to pay Twitter anything, and Twitter goes completely bust.
If this entire saga ends with a world without Twitter, then Elon Musk will go down in my list as a hero of the human race.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Freeman on Thursday August 18 2022, @01:43PM (7 children)
Some people harbor equally negative thoughts for Musk and hope that there's an option that harms them both. Elon Musk is forced to buy them. Then, Twitter goes *poof* or something like that. I'm on the fence about the whole situation, but Musk's brain certainly wasn't firing on all cylinders when he waived his right to due diligence. Unless you're 1000% confident that you're not going to be getting a raw deal, you just don't sign something that waives your ability to check to make sure you're not doing something stupid. Even then, you just don't sign a contract with that kind of stipulation. I'm not business savvy, but I know stupid when I see it. That's some seriously stupid thing to agree to.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2022, @02:05PM (6 children)
We are talking about a person that will (appears to) buy a billion dollar company on a 'whim'.
or.. is it all part of The Plan?
Who knows. Guy could be a billionaire genius and we just can't see his moves.
I follow the 'he screwed up and is now bailing' theory. Bets anyone?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2022, @02:20PM (2 children)
What is bought can be sold, and spending money can alleviate tax burdens.
I follow the "he wants to negotiate a better price for this bot-infested service" theory.
(Score: 4, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2022, @03:18PM (1 child)
I'm going with the "he loves to build himself up and talk big and blustery on a large stage and it occasionally puts him in unwise situations where he is forced to 'put up or shut up', and losing face is not an option" theory.
Who knows, if he is forced to pay the $1B backout fee, maybe he can make Mexico pay for it.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 18 2022, @03:54PM
I choose "D", all of the above.
Elon ran at the mouth without thinking. To save face, he followed up his braggadocio with a genuine top-of-the-head offer, which was pretty close to market price. Before the sale completed, he had buyer's remorse. But his lawyers seem to be trying to save something from the fiasco.
If Musk can get the price down, based on some magic number of fake accounts, all will end well for him, I think. If he can't get the price down, but is forced to buy anyway, I think he hasn't lost much. If he can walk away without penalty, all is well for Musk.
Judges and juries are whimsical though. If they impose penalties based on his running at the mouth, I can't feel sorry for him.
If I had billions to toss around, I really don't think that I would invest in any social media platform. But, I agree with what he has said about frozen peaches. Fekkin' Twitter has no right to decide what subjects can be discussed on the modern day Town Square. Their censorship privileges should begin and and with policing those forums accessble by kids, and reporting clearly illegal stuff. Plot to kidnap someone for ransom? Turn it in to the law, preserve evidence, and shut it down. Most other things, just keep your twit hands off of it!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday August 18 2022, @03:15PM (1 child)
Can't admit to what everybody knew the second it came out of his mouth.....
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19 2022, @06:29AM
That's what happens when you live in a bubble.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Thursday August 18 2022, @03:44PM
There is also option 3, where the plan was this:
1. Buy a bunch of Twitter stock.
2. Announce a generous buyout. Stock price skyrockets.
3. Sell the stock at the now inflated price, and announce you're weaseling out of the deal.
Bear in mind this is a guy whose been looked at for illegal stock price manipulation before now.
But yes, I'm also not going to discount the idea that he isn't half as smart as he thinks he is, just like most people who find themselves with a large pile of cash.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Nuke on Thursday August 18 2022, @05:58PM (1 child)
No, the best result is if Musk is made to buy it.
He'll then need to sell his Tesla shares to afford it, bringing Tesla's share price down to a real world value as others stampede away from it, and Twitter gets the arsehole owner they deserve.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19 2022, @06:38AM
Why don't we get to vote on this kind of stuff in the election, not boring Senators and abortions. I WANT CELEBRITIES!1!