Twitter paid whistle-blower $7 million to silence him, says Musk's lawyer

Twitter Inc. paid a whistle-blower who raised questions about operational problems within the social media platform $7 million to secure his silence, according to a lawyer for Elon Musk.

The payment was mentioned in passing at a Sept. 6 hearing in the lawsuit between Twitter and Musk over his attempts to cancel a $44 billion purchase of the company. “They’re paying the guy $7 million and making sure he’s quiet,” Musk attorney Alex Spiro said at the hearing. People familiar with the matter confirmed the reference was to a payment to whistle-blower Peiter Zatko.

Twitter representatives Thursday declined to comment