$7 million “hush money” for whistleblowers

The story surrounding the unveiling of Peiter Zatko never ends. Recent media research even has the opposite effect. Accordingly, Twitter and the current whistleblower had actually agreed on hush money of seven million US dollars.

Twitter is undoubtedly the social network that will be the most popular and in the public eye in 2022 – even though there is also Mark Zuckerberg and his (not quite so) magical Metaverse.

After the failed takeover by Elon Musk, the revelations by whistleblower Peiter Zatko make new headlines almost every day. Same today.

Is Twitter paying $7 million in hush money for Peiter Zatko?

Specifically, research by Wall Street Journal amazing information unearthed. Accordingly, Zatko, who had worked as head of security at Twitter until January 2022, and his former employer had agreed on a non-disclosure agreement in June 2022.

The content of the so-called non-disclosure agreement was simple: Twitter whistleblower Peiter Zatko received a total of seven million US dollars from the microblogging platform. In exchange for this “silence money,” Zatko promises former hackers that he will not speak publicly – or at least not in a derogatory manner – about his time and work on Twitter.

Peiter Zatko addresses the US Senate on September 13, 2022

But apparently the Twitter whistleblower was not satisfied with the negotiations and the outcome of the months-long discussions after his dismissal. Just days after the agreement, he released his nearly 200-page revelations.

It is also unclear whether, when and in what form the legal dispute between Twitter and Fast-Buyer Elon Musk will officially begin. However, the whistleblower’s statements are likely to have a decisive influence on the outcome of the process.

It is precisely for this reason that the US Senate Judiciary Committee has now subpoenaed Peiter Zatko. He is scheduled to comment personally on the allegations on September 13, 2022.

Twitter vs. Elon Musk: A (never-ending) mud fight

The past few days have impressively shown how high the waves are in the legal dispute and also in the discussion between Tesla boss Elon Musk and the short message service Twitter.

After the $44 billion takeover was canceled, Twitter initially sued Elon Musk. Zatko, in turn, is now using Peiter Zatko’s revelations to justify breaking off the deal and his security concerns.

In response, Twitter is trying to make Zatko’s statements worthless. In their most recent statement, the lawyers for the short message service claim that the cyber expert cannot make any statements about spam and bot accounts because that was not his area of ​​responsibility.

And so it is actually already clear that even with the most recent revelation, the proverbial last word has by no means been spoken.

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