Twitter Source Code Partially Leaked Online via Github, Court Filing Reveals

Twitter Inc. had suffered a significant security lapse with the partial leak of its source code, the key architectural foundation of the social media platform. The security incident had already transpired, but the company reported the serious breach in a legal filing on Sunday. The shocking development comes in a long line of growing pains experienced by Elon Musk since acquiring Twitter in 2022.

It is unclear as to who was responsible for the source code leak, but the precious data was shared through the Microsoft-owned code repository GitHub. The legal document submitted to the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California indicates that portions of Twitter's source code were posted online without authorization.

San Francisco-based Twitter emphasized in the filing that the unauthorized postings infringe on copyrights held by the company.

Twitter Asks Courts to Identify Perpetrators

It is unclear if the leak came through an external security breach, or from a disgruntled Twitter employee. Twitter has also petitioned the court to identify the alleged infringer(s) responsible for posting the source code on GitHub-operated systems.

The company promptly requested GitHub, an internet hosting service for software development, to remove the code. GitHub complied, disabling the content in question, as mentioned in the filing. However, none of these developments were made public during the time.

The leak adds to the growing list of challenges faced by billionaire Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter for $44 billion in October last year and subsequently took the company private. Since then, the social media giant has been embroiled in turmoil, with massive layoffs and a mass exodus of advertisers.

FTC Investigates Twitter

There seems to be no end to Musk's woes. Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating Musk's mass layoffs at Twitter, while seeking access to his internal communications.

The inquiry is part of an ongoing oversight effort into the social media company's privacy and cybersecurity practices, as detailed in a congressional report. The latest leak revealed through Twitter's legal filing is likely to bolster the FTC's attempts to investigate Twitter's cybersecurity hygiene.

The leaked source code could have serious implications for Twitter's security, potentially exposing vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious actors.

This incident raises concerns about the platform's ability to protect its intellectual property and user data. While the extent of the leak remains unclear, it may also have repercussions for Twitter's reputation among users, advertisers, and investors.