The Securities and Exchange Commission asked Twitter in June for additional information on spam accounts on its platform, according to new filings revealed on Wednesday.
The filings come a day after a whistleblower by former Twitter security head Peiter “Mudge” Zatko,” who pointed at “extreme, egregious deficiencies by Twitter” related to privacy, security and content moderation.
For years, Twitter has said in investor filings that fake or spam accounts represent less than 5% of the daily active users.
According to Zatko, the statistic might not present a full picture of the number of spam accounts on the platform.
The news comes ahead of a highly watched legal showdown between Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk who wants to back out of his deal to buy the company for $44 billion. If Zatko allegations are proven true, Musk could walk away more easily from the deal.
Twitter reiterated that spam accounts on its platform represent fewer than 5% of its total users, in response to a SEC’s letter in June, seeking details on its methodology.
“Twitter believes that it already adequately discloses the methodology that it uses in calculating these figures,” the company said in a letter dated June 22.
