What’s up with Twitter’s whistleblower?

Whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko is shaking things up as Twitter prepares to face off against Elon Musk in court in October.

Zatko — an “ethical hacker” who’s worked with Google, Stripe, and the US Defense Department — is Twitter’s ex-head of cybersecurity.

His lawyers sent the report to Congress and federal agencies last month, per CNN:

What’s it say?

A lot, including:

• Twitter lied about its spam and fake accounts being less than 5%.
• Its reporting metric mDAU (monetizable daily active users) hides the number of fake accounts.
• Execs don’t have the resources to know real numbers, nor are they incentivized to find out.
• Leaders have misled Twitter’s board and the government about security vulnerabilities, including those that pose national security risks.
• Twitter has never been in compliance with FTC demands since 2010.

Twitter’s official statement…

… is that Zatko’s report is a “false narrative” designed to harm the company.

But if Zatko’s claims are found to be credible, it could not only help Musk — who claims he abandoned his $44B Twitter purchase after it failed to provide info about fake accounts — but also mean big FTC fines.

BTW: Here’s Zatko sharing stories from his time with the Dept. of Defense at hacker convention DEF CON.