Following the world’s richest man’s subpoena of a whistleblower seeking details on how the social media platform checks spam accounts, Elon Musk delivered a second letter of deal termination to Twitter Inc.
In July, Musk withdrew from a $44 billion bid for Twitter, claiming that the firm had lied to him and authorities about the actual amount of spam or bot accounts on the microblogging service.
Musk has reportedly asked Peiter Zatko, a whistleblower and the former head of Twitter’s security, for information, mostly regarding how the microblogging site determines which accounts is spam, according to a court document filed on Monday.
Famous hacker “Mudge” Zatko stated in his complaint, which was made public last week, that the corporation had misrepresented its security measures and had placed user growth over spam prevention. Following the revelation, Musk’s legal team said that allegations based on specific facts that were previously unknown to them but known to Twitter before July 8 had surfaced, offering further and compelling reasons to terminate the agreement.
The summons for Zatko was issued in advance of a five-day trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery that is scheduled to start on October 17.
Twitter is requesting that Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick order Musk to purchase the stock at the agreed-upon price of $54.20 a share even if Musk wants to cancel the deal.
According to a regulatory filing made by Musk on Tuesday, a further termination notice with a date of August 29 was also given in case the one from July 8 was found to be invalid for any reason.
Before the bell, shares of Twitter were down 2.5% at $39.02.
