--- title: What’s up with Twitter’s whistleblower? - The Hustle description: Things are getting interesting before the Musk-Twitter showdown in October. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1993216426-HS-News-Brief_2022-08-24T010617.898Z-scaled.webp --- # What’s up with Twitter’s whistleblower? ![Juliet Bennett Rylah](https://53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/HubSpot%20Media/Blog%202021/Images/Nav/Optimized/TheHustle_Icon_Dark.svg) [Juliet Bennett Rylah](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/juliet-bennett-rylah) [Juliet Bennett Rylah Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/JBRylah) Published: August 24, 2022 Updated: October 11, 2023 Whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko is shaking things up as Twitter prepares to face off against Elon Musk in court in October. ![What’s up with Twitter’s whistleblower?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1993216426-HS-News-Brief_2022-08-24T010617.898Z-scaled.webp?width=595&height=400&name=1993216426-HS-News-Brief_2022-08-24T010617.898Z-scaled.webp) Zatko — an “[ethical hacker](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-23/twitter-whistleblower-mudge-has-distinguished-cyber-career?sref=3Ac2yX40)” who’s worked with Google, Stripe, and the US Defense Department — is Twitter’s ex-head of cybersecurity. His lawyers sent [the report](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22186683-twitter-whistleblower-disclosure) to Congress and federal agencies last month, [per](https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/23/tech/twitter-whistleblower-peiter-zatko-security/index.html) *CNN*. #### **What’s it say?** A lot, including: - Twitter [lied](https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkgkp9/twitter-whistleblower-says-twitter-is-lying-to-elon-musk-about-bots) 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 from 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](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSR-b9yuTbM) from his time with the Dept. of Defense at hacker convention DEF CON. 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