Twitter executives don’t have the resources to fully understand the real number of bots on the platform and weren’t motivated to do so, the social media company’s former head of security Peiter Zatko has revealed.

Twitter Inc misled federal regulators about its security defenses and spam accounts, CNN and the Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing allegations from the social media company’s former chief security officer, Peiter Zatko.

Twitter executives do not have the resources to fully understand the true number of bots on the platform and were not motivated to do so, CNN reported, citing Zatko.

The social media company is embroiled in a legal battle with Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk after the world’s richest person said in July he was finalizing a deal to buy the company in a $44 billion deal. , claiming that Twitter had violated the terms of the contract.

Musk accused Twitter of withholding information about how it calculates the percentage of bots on the service. The trial is scheduled for October 17.

Zatko’s complaint was filed last month with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department, as well as the Federal Trade Commission, according to the newspaper.

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Zatko did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment, while Musk could not be reached for comment.

In January, Twitter said that Zatko, a famous hacker better known as “Mudge,” was no longer its chief of security, two years after he was appointed to the role.

A Twitter spokesperson said Tuesday that Zatko was fired from his senior executive role at the company in January 2022 for ineffective leadership and poor performance.