Twitter shareholders say yes to Elon Musk, promoting the $ 44 billion offer, which Tesla boss is trying to break free from. Musk no longer wants to respect the agreement: after launching an offer to acquire the platform in mid-April, he has been hammering for months on the fact that the percentage of fake and spam accounts in his opinion far exceeds 5 % estimated by Twitter management. The social network has filed a lawsuit against Tesla’s owner to force him to comply with the acquisition commitment. And, for this, the fate of the agreement will now be decided by a judge from Delaware. The Twitter stock, meanwhile, gained 0.9%.
The allegations of the former Twitter security officer
The blessing of the agreement comes on a difficult day for the company that chirps: Peiter Zatko, the former Twitter security manager, sacked last January, appears before the Senate justice commission and details his accusations against the social network to the American senators. The Twitter leadership has “ignored” the warnings of the engineers and, thanks to the incentives provided, has given “priority to profits over safety”, explained Zatko, observing how the flaws and shortcomings of the social network are a “time bomb” and they also involve risks in terms of national security.
The company that chirps – clarified ‘Mudge’, the name by which the former manager is known in the cyber world – is in fact unable to control access to the system of its employees, making it practically impossible for the company to identify the presence of foreign agents in its ranks and drive them out. Twitter “has deceived users and investors,” he added to the amazement of American senators who are asking for more European-style controls and the hypothesis of an exit of the current CEO Parag Agrawal is hovering.
“If the allegations are true, I don’t see how CEO Agrawal can keep his position,” Republican Chuck Grassley said, reporting that Agrawal had been invited to attend the hearing but declined the offer. The accusations of Zatko, renowned for being a good hacker and for his historic Senate hearing in 1998, when he raised the alarm about the weakness of the web infrastructure, threaten to complicate Twitter’s legal battle against Musk.
Musk tries to break free from the deal
After wooing the company for months and putting 44 billion on the plate, the richest man in the world wants to withdraw his offer and has already tried, unsuccessfully, three times. The last word now rests with the Delaware court, which Twitter has resorted to to force Tesla’s boss to honor his commitment. Initially for the company that chirps a victory in the face of justice it seemed, according to observers, within reach. His position, however, has weakened with the passing of the weeks and a strong blow came from Zatko who, with the accusations of him, seems to agree and Musk on the fake and spam accounts.
The fact that Twitter then paid his former security manager a $ 7 million severance pay to the mole following his dismissal further complicates the game, opening the door for Musk to claim what he believes is yet another. violation of the purchase agreement which prohibits payments “outside the practice of the past”.