Since his controversial takeover of Twitter, Elon Musk has reportedly been paranoid about being sabotaged by disgruntled staff—and his suspicions might have just been proven correct.
An internal manhunt has been launched to find an individual who posted online parts of Twitter's source code, which provides the basis for the entire platform to function. According to the New York Times, the social media platform posted a filing to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday, and also sent a copyright infringement notice to online collaboration platform GitHub, where the code was leaked.
The request received by Microsoft-owned GitHub from Musk's Twitter was viewed by Fortune. The request, filed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), is from an unnamed Twitter staffer who was asking for "proprietary source code for Twitter's platform and internal tools" to be removed from the site.
The form goes on to add that it does not have any details of the person who posted the link. Instead it provides a URL link to a "public space" on GitHub with a profile named FreeSpeechEnthusiast. The name is arguably a jibe at Twitter's CEO himself who has previously called himself a "free-speech absolutist," saying his commitment to free speech is so strong he will tolerate threats to his personal safety.
My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 7, 2022
However, it seems copyright infringements are one step too far for the Tesla CEO, with the DMCA request also hinting that an in-house hunt is also on. The request to GitHub adds it wants to be provided with "copies of any related upload / download / access history (and any contact info, IP addresses, or other session info related to same), and any associated logs related to this repo or any forks thereof, before removing all the infringing content from Github."
GitHub did not confirm to Fortune whether it either gathered or provided this information to Twitter. It also would not confirm how long the source code has been online, though some reports suggest it could have been a matter of months.
The New York Times reports that the subpoena to the district courts also requests that they force GitHub to turn over the information. The federal court filing seen by the Financial Times was submitted by Julian Moore, director of Twitter’s internal legal team, who said the post included “proprietary source code for Twitter’s platform and internal tools.”
The search is on
The potential ramifications of this leak could be massive, sources familiar with the investigation told the New York Times. Firstly, the executives handling the internal investigation fear that the code could be used to identify and exploit security vulnerabilities, which in turn could lead to user data breaches or even take down the site.
On top of that, the leaked code could give competitors a glimpse into the San Francisco–based company's inner workings, with GitHub's audience a hotbed of employees working for other cutting-edge enterprises. GitHub describes itself as a platform to promote collaboration among developers, 90% of whom work for Fortune 100 companies.
Two people briefed on the internal investigation say executives believe the individual who posted the code left the company last year, following Musk's takeover in October. Unfortunately for investigators, that doesn't really narrow the pool, with around 75% of Twitter staffers either resigning or being laid off since the SpaceX founder took it over.
According to figures Musk put forward in December, Twitter's headcount now stands at around 2,000 from the 7,500 he had in November. Among the teams reportedly axed are human rights, communication, machine learning ethics, transparency and accountability, and accessibility experience.
Such moves haven't made him popular, with former employees telling Insider the CEO has become obsessed with the fear of sabotage, while other reports emerged that two bodyguards follow Musk around the social media platform's offices—even into the restrooms.
It's been a tough few days at Twitter for employees and Musk alike. Over the weekend, the member of the so-called PayPal Mafia admitted he thinks the value of the platform has fallen by more than half since he took it over; days before, he launched a 2:30 a.m. tirade telling employees to return to the office.
Twitter under Musk has reportedly eliminated its communications team, and under a new policy, Fortune received a 💩 emoji back when it approached the company for comment.
