Whistleblower accuses Twitter of hiding major flaws

Twitter misled users and U.S. regulators about "extreme, egregious" gaps in its online protections, the platform's ex-security chief claimed in whistleblower testimony that could impact the court fight over Elon Musk's buyout bid.    

Peiter Zatko's complaint, also accused Twitter of significantly underestimating the number of fake and spam accounts - a crucial point in Musk's argument for trying to cancel his $44 billion deal to own the platform.    

Zatko's filing to authorities including market watchdog Securities and Exchange Commission accuses Twitter of "negligence, willful ignorance, and threats to national security and democracy."    

The ex-worker, who Twitter says was fired for poor performance, warns of obsolete servers, software vulnerable to computer attacks and executives seeking to hide the number of hacking attempts, both from U.S. authorities and from the company's board of directors.    

The hacker-turned-executive, who goes by the nickname "Mudge," also claims that Twitter prioritizes growing its user base over fighting spam and bots, the filing says.    

In particular, Zatko accuses the platform and its CEO Parag Agrawal of issuing untrue statements on account numbers because "if accurate measurements ever became public, it would harm the image and valuation of the company."    

His filing argues that because Twitter reports a tally of users based on who can be reached by advertising - not the actual number of accounts - the true magnitude of spam bots is effectively unknown to the public.    

Twitter fired back at its former worker, saying Zatko was fired in January for "ineffective leadership and poor performance."      

The "opportunistic timing" of the allegations appears "designed to...