GitHub, an online platform for software developers where the code was posted, took down the code on Friday, upon Twitter’s request, a US newspaper reported on Sunday.
The source code, the underlying computer code on which Twitter runs, was likely public online for at least several months, the newspaper said.
Sources told the newspaper that it was likely that the person responsible for the leak of the code likely left Twitter last year.
Twitter has asked the US District Court for the Northern District of California to order GitHub to identify the person who shared the code, as well as those who have downloaded it.
According to media reports, the source code includes certain security vulnerabilities that could allow hackers to attack Twitter, extract user data, or shut down the site.