Twitter Closed $7M Settlement With Whistleblower Days Before He Went Public: Report

Twitter agreed in June to pay roughly $7 million to the whistleblower whose claims will be part of mogul Elon Musk’s ongoing legal battle against the company, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing sources close to the matter. The whistleblower, Peiter Zatko, also known by his hacker pseudonym Mudge, was Twitter’s head of security until he was fired in June. The settlement was agreed upon just “days” before Zatko filed his whistleblower complaint, the Journal reported. It included a nondisclosure agreement that barred him from defaming the company, but did not prevent him from filing a whistleblower complaint or speaking in a congressional hearing, according to the newspaper’s sources. In July, Zatko accused Twitter of lying about its security plan and failing to protect user data. He is set to meet with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to discuss the allegations.