The Nub

Elon Musk may have found new ammunition in his legal fight against Twitter, thanks to a whistle-blower’s recent complaint — but legal experts told Insider that it’s unlikely to be a silver bullet. The whistle-blower’s claims could, however, convince the social media giant to agree to a large settlement from the Tesla CEO instead of forcing him to buy it outright.

Why Does it Matter

The 84-page complaint, published by The Washington Post on Tuesday, was written by renowned hacker and former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko. He accused the company of general mismanagement, “lying” to Elon Musk about spam accounts on its site and having poor security practices that could violate a previous FTC settlement agreement.

What Next

Since Twitter sued Musk in July over his attempt to back out from a $44 billion purchase agreement, Musk has accused Twitter of operating a “scheme” to mislead investors regarding the company’s prospects and intentionally “miscounting” the number of spam accounts on the site. Meanwhile, Twitter has said Musk’s complaints are merely an excuse for him to walk away from the deal.