Musk looks to delay Twitter trial following whistleblower claims

With the whistleblower claims, the problems go beyond the bogus accounts and include data security and other concerns, Elon Musk says

Elon Musk is seeking to delay until November a trial over his intention to back out of a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter Inc and amend his complaint against the social media company, according to court filings, after a whistleblower provided him with fresh ammunition.

The court filings came after Musk's lawyer earlier in the day sent a fresh letter to Twitter to include a whistleblower complaint as another reason to scrap the deal.

In July, the Tesla Inc CEO sent his first termination letter to Twitter, accusing it of misleading him over the number of fake accounts on its platform.

Now, he says the problems go beyond the bogus accounts, and include data security and other concerns raised by the whistleblower, creating a new battlefront with Twitter.

Last week, Peiter Zatko, Twitter's former security chief, said in a complaint filed with US regulators that Twitter prioritised user growth over reducing spam and falsely claimed it had a solid security plan.

Musk and Twitter have sued each other in Delaware state court and a five-day trial is scheduled to start Oct 17.

Musk on Tuesday asked the judge to let both sides continue briefing their cases through Nov 10, followed by a conference to discuss what evidence they can introduce at trial. Musk said a trial could begin later that month "subject to the court's availability."