Twitter and Elon Musk each scored partial victories in a legal spat over the billionaire’s abandoned bid to acquire the social media company, as a US judge denied a move to delay a related trial but cleared the inclusion of a company whistle-blower’s testimony.

In a hearing yesterday (6 September) the judge ruled delaying the trial from October to November could harm Twitter, but noted including testimony from Peiter Zatko, the social media company’s former head of security, was relevant to the case.

Musk’s legal team sought to delay the trial after Zatko’s claims Twitter did not prioritise removing spam and bot accounts emerged in late August.

During the hearing, Twitter’s legal team disputed Zatko’s allegations it failed to take his concerns about spam accounts seriously.

Musk cited concern over the number of spam accounts on Twitter as the primary reason for dropping out of the $44 billion deal.