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Earlier court filings had indicated Musk would be deposed starting on Sept. 26, while a filing Saturday said Agrawal was also due to be questioned starting Monday morning. That day, Musk’s team learned of Agrawal’s rescheduling, the person said. Agrawal’s deposition could be a chance for Musk’s team to question him about Zatko’s whistleblower allegations. Agrawal also turned down an invitation to testify at a Senate committee hearing alongside Zatko earlier this month citing the litigation with Musk, according to Sen. Chuck Grassley. Twitter and Musk are set to go to trial over the acquisition dispute in mid-October.

☆ Elon Musk will be forced to acquire Twitter for $44 billion, says a top M&A legal expert who warns that the billionaire is 'in trouble' as he heads to court
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Elon Musk has spent the past few months trying to get out of his agreement to acquire Twitter. Musk needs only to convince Judge Kathaleen McCormick of one of his claims, while Twitter needs to convince her of all of its claims. Musk can appeal the ruling, and likely will, but he will almost certainly still be forced to buy Twitter, Miller said. Musk knew Twitter has some "bots" and even stated in the press release announcing the deal that he would "defeat" them. "Musk could probably go to Mars and try do this under Martian law and have a better chance than going to Texas law," Miller said.

☆ Amazon is walking back staffers' raises after an internal bug miscalculated compensation
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

We're looking at that and more today — but first, let's kick things off with the latest on Amazon compensation. Leaked email reveals that Amazon is walking back employees' raises. A software bug caused Amazon to overstate some corporate employees' raise packages, according to the email. Per the email, the glitch caused Amazon to overstate bonuses for recently-promoted employees by relying on older, higher stock prices for Amazon shares. In response, Amazon nearly doubled its base pay cap and promised raises, but that wasn't enough to quell the gripes.

☆ Twitter hunts for documents showing possible connection between Elon Musk and former executive turned whistleblower Peiter 'Mudge' Zatko
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Zatko accused Twitter of lax security and other missteps during his time as a top executive. He also sided with Elon Musk in claiming "bots" are improperly quantified on the platform. Twitter now wants to know if Zatko has had prior dealings with Musk or those on his side of the deal. He also openly sided with Musk and his claims that Twitter hosts more "bots" or fake accounts that it publicly discloses. A section of Zatko's disclosure is titled "Lying about Bots to Elon Musk" and accuses Twitter of misrepresenting how it counts and combats spam accounts, saying "Elon Musk is correct."

☆ Why deleting something from the internet is 'almost impossible'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-18 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | Cnn Business | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

In his testimony and whistleblower disclosure, Zatko alleged Twitter does not reliably delete users' data, in some cases because it has lost track of the information. Twitter has broadly defended itself against Zatko's allegations, saying his disclosure paints a "false narrative" of the company. In response to questions from CNN, Twitter has previously said it has workflows in place to "begin a deletion process" but has not said whether it typically completes that process. Photo by Sarah Silbiger for CNNWhile Zatko's allegations are stunning, it also served as just another reminder to Sandra Matz of "how oftentimes mindless we are" in sharing our data online. "Retracting something from the internet, hitting the reset button — is almost impossible."

☆ Elon Musk accuses Twitter of fraud and says 'he has the full right' to end deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

— Billionaire Elon Musk accused Twitter of fraud by concealing serious flaws in the social media company’s data security, which the entrepreneur said should allow him to end his $44 billion deal for the company, according to a Thursday court filing. Musk, the world’s richest person, amended his previously filed lawsuit by adopting allegations by a Twitter whistleblower, who told Congress on Tuesday of meddling on the influential social media platform by foreign agents. Musk said the claims by the whistleblower, former head of Twitter security Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, amounted to fraud and breach of contract by Twitter. Musk has asked a Delaware judge to find that he was not obligated to close the deal while Twitter wants the judge to order Musk to buy the company for $54.20 per share. Twitter’s lawyers have said in court that the whistleblower claims that Musk folded into his case were either not grounds for terminating the deal agreement or failed to meet the standard for fraud.

☆ Twitter whistleblower alleges at least one Chinese spy is at the company
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-13 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter whistleblower Peiter Zatko claims Twitter has at least one Chinese spy at the company. Twitter has said Zatko's complaint is "riddled with inaccuracies." Zatko alleged that the FBI warned Twitter that the company employed a Chinese foreign agent. "Today's hearing only confirms that Mr. Zatko's allegations are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies," a Twitter spokesperson told Insider. "While it was disturbing to hear, I and many others had recognized the state of the environment at Twitter," Zatko said.

☆ Twitter says its multimillion-dollar payout to whistleblower shouldn't affect deal with Elon Musk
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-12 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | Arjun Kharpal Is A News Assistant For Cnbc In London. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The social media giant said it intends to enforce the agreement and close the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Musk, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. On Friday, Musk’s legal team sent a letter to Twitter, citing another reason to call off the proposed acquisition. Musk’s team alleged that the multimillion-dollar payment Twitter paid to whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko violated the terms of the deal. Zatko last month alleged “extreme, egregious deficiencies” by the social media company related to privacy, security and content moderation. In Friday’s letter, Musk’s legal team said an alleged $7.75 million severance payment to Zatko from Twitter is another breach of the takeover agreement.

☆ Twitter slams Elon Musk's third attempt to get out of the deal as 'illegal.' Next up, more Musk texts could be made public and the whistleblower will testify.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-12 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Musk's team argued an alleged $7.75 million severance to the Twitter whistleblower breached the deal. In the letter, Musk's lawyers argued that a recently reported $7.75 million severance payment given to Twitter whistleblower and ex-security chief Peiter Zatko breached the deal. Last week, one of Musk's text messages appeared to cast doubt on the billionaire's reasons for ditching the deal. Twitter's legal team used the tweet to support its argument that Musk is walking away from the deal due to economic concerns. More of Musk's text are expected to be released publicly as soon as Monday.

☆ Delaware court denies Musk request to delay Twitter trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-07 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

A Delaware court denied Elon Musk’s request to delay the trial over his attempt to abandon a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, according to a new filing released on Wednesday. But the billionaire Tesla CEO will be allowed to add claims from a Twitter whistleblower to his countersuit, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick ruled. The trial is expected to begin on October 17, earlier than the mid-November date Musk’s team requested in its latest push. “I previously rejected Defendants’ arguments in response to Twitter’s motion to expedite, making clear that the longer the delay until trial, the greater the risk of irreparable harm to Twitter,” McCormick wrote. Musk’s lawyers asked to add claims related to the whistleblower complaint recently made public by Twitter’s former head of security, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko.

☆ Elon Musk takes another loss in Twitter battle as his request to delay trial is denied — but judge says he can add whistleblower allegations to his suit
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-07 | by ( Grace Kay | Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Twitter has already seen negative effects on its business during the case so far, the judge said. Musk's team cannot do any kind of extensive additional discovery that will delay the case, with the judge only allowing "incremental" and "targeted" requests for more document production from Twitter. She rejected the billionaire's request to delay the trial, his second attempt to do so, reiterating that any further delay poses an outsized risk to Twitter as a business. "I am convinced that even four weeks' delay would risk further harm to Twitter too great to justify." While Zatko's whistleblower claims mainly revolve around security issues at Twitter, Musk seized on them to prove his allegations of fraud.

☆ Is Twitter ready for the midterms?
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-26 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

The disclosure alleges that Twitter is rife with security and privacy vulnerabilities that put users, investors and even US national security at risk, and that Twitter executives have misled its board and regulators about its shortcomings. Members of the US House Committee on Homeland Security on Thursday sent Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal a letter demanding that he address Zatko’s allegations and explain Twitter’s readiness for the 2022 midterms. In 2020, hackers tricked Twitter employees into handing over internal access that allowed them to take over the accounts of prominent figures such as former President Barack Obama and then-Presidential candidate Joe Biden. “Twitter employees were repeatedly found to be intentionally installing spyware on their work computers at the request of external organizations,” the disclosure states. Twitter’s employees use devices overseen by other IT and security teams with the power to prevent a device from connecting to sensitive internal systems if it is running outdated software, Twitter added.

☆ The 5 key takeaways from the Twitter whistleblower
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-24 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

Here's more on some of the top takeaways from Zatko's disclosure. And it has created internal workflows to ensure users know that when they cancel their accounts, Twitter will deactivate the accounts and start a deletion process, Twitter said. Partly due to its cybersecurity issues, Zatko's disclosure says, Twitter's data centers are constantly at risk of going down. Twitter also knowingly misled the FTC and French regulators on its intellectual property rights violations, the disclosure claims. The FTC settlement was supposed to force Twitter to shape up after hackers in 2009 gained access to internal Twitter systems.

The complaints, obtained by CNBC, were filed by nonprofit law firm Whistleblower Aid, which is representing Twitter's former head of security, Peiter "Mudge" Zatko. Whistleblower Aid, which also represented Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, verified the authenticity of the documents with CNBC. A Twitter whistleblower is alleging "extreme, egregious deficiencies by Twitter" related to privacy, security and content moderation, according to complaints filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice. If government regulators were to find Twitter misled consumers about its security protocols, that may be considered a violation of its 2011 agreement with the FTC. At the time, Twitter was barred for 20 years from misleading consumers about how it protects their security and private information.

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