What the Twitter whistleblower could mean for Elon Musk's takeover deal

Elon Musk's monthslong effort to buy — and then to get out of buying — Twitter has been marked by a range of unexpected twists. Now, a stunning whistleblower disclosure from the company's former security lead Peiter Zatko is almost certain to become the latest complication.

As part of a wide-ranging, nearly 200-page disclosure sent last month to US lawmakers and regulators, which was exclusively reported by CNN and the Washington Post Tuesday, Zatko alleges that Twitter (TWTR) has neither the incentive nor the resources to properly measure the full scope of bots on its platform. He also alleges that Twitter suffers from a range of other security vulnerabilities that it has for years failed to fix. (Twitter has broadly defended itself and criticized Zatko's allegations as "riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies.")

Musk, who initially said he wanted to "defeat the spam bots" after buying Twitter, later raised alarms that the company might be significantly under-reporting the number of spam and fake accounts, although he had little apparent evidence beyond his own experience on the platform to support the claim. He has made the issue central to the legal fight over the $44 billion acquisition, even as Twitter argues Musk is simply attempting to get out of a deal for which he now has buyer's remorse amid a market downturn.