Elon Musk’s social media platform Twitter has revealed that some parts of its source code have been leaked online (Yui Mok/PA) — © Yui Mok
By Holly Williams, PA Business EditorPA Media
Elon Musk’s social media platform Twitter has revealed that some parts of its source code have been leaked online.
The group said in a legal filing that the code – the fundamental computer code on which the social network runs – has been leaked on GitHub, which is an internet hosting service where software developers share code.
Microsoft-owned GitHub took down the code after Twitter requested its removal.
Twitter also asked the District Court of the Northern District of California, where it filed its legal document, to provide information on who was behind the account which leaked the code.
Elon Musk has faced a number of headaches since his deal to take Twitter private (Brian Lawless/PA) — © Brian Lawless
Twitter’s legal filing reportedly said the leaker went under the name of FreeBeach Enthusiast on GitHub – a reference to the fact that Mr Musk calls himself a free-speech enthusiast.
It claimed the source code postings infringe copyrights held by Twitter.
The move comes after Mr Musk is also understood to have suggested to workers at Twitter that the company is now worth less than half the 44 billion US dollars (£35.9 billion) he paid for it last October.
The valuation estimate was reportedly signalled in Mr Musk’s offer of stock grants to employees at the firm.
It presents yet another headache for the billionaire since his deal to take Twitter private, with the firm having since been engulfed in chaos, with widespread redundancies and advertisers fleeing the group.
Twitter was not immediately available for comment.
The group now has a policy of responding to all inquiries to its email press office account with a poo emoji, as announced by Mr Musk in a tweet earlier this month.
