Parts of Twitter's source code, the computer code on which the social network runs, were leaked online, the company said in a legal filing on Sunday.
According to the legal document, filed with the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California, Twitter sent a copyright infringement notice to GitHub, an online collaboration platform for software developers, where the code was posted, asking it to take down the code.
The news was first reported by the New York Times.
GitHub complied and took down the code that day. However, the leaked code appeared to have been public for at least several months, reports The New York Times.
The executives were made aware of the source code leak only recently the people briefed on the internal investigation said.
Technology companies often see such code as a closely held secret and do not share it for fear of giving competitors an unfair advantage or reveal security vulnerabilities that could give hackers or other motivated parties the means to extract user data or take down the site, says the report.
Twitter also asked the court to identify the alleged infringer or infringers who posted the company’s source code on systems operated by GitHub without Twitter’s authorization.
The company has started an investigation into the matter.
The source code leak poses more challenges for billionaire Elon Musk, who bought Twitter last October for $44 billion and has had massive layoffs since then.
He has been trying to turn around the company by slashing costs, trying out new features and welcoming back previously banned users.
Both Musk and GitHub did not respond to requests for comments about Twitter’s leaked code. GitHub however, has posted Twitter’s takedown request on its website, says the report.