Elon Musk posted a cryptic tweet in response to the bombshell allegations from Twitter’s former security chief that the company deceived the federal government over its purported efforts to safeguard user data and crack down on spam and bot accounts.

The Tesla boss tweeted a photo of the Disney character Jiminy Cricket making a whistling gesture.

“Give a little whistle,” reads the cartoon.

In a subsequent tweet, Musk wrote: “So spam prevalence *was* shared with the board, but the board chose not [to] disclose that to the public…”

The tweet attached a screenshot of a story by the Washington Post that revealed that Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, the famed hacker who was hired by Twitter two years ago to overhaul its cybersecurity operation, had blown the whistle on the firm.

Zatko filed a claim with the Securities and Exchange Commission that appeared to agree with Musk’s contention that Twitter failed to adequately account for the number of spam and bot handles on its platform.

Zatko also alleged that Twitter’s security arrangements are so lax that tens of thousands of low- and mid-level employees have access to the site’s most sensitive controls — making it vulnerable to espionage by hostile foreign actors.

When Zatko told his superiors about the inadequate security procedures, he claims he was told to offer up a rosy assessment that papered over the problems when sharing the information with the company’s board of directors.

Twitter has denied Zatko’s allegations. The company also rejected his claims that he was fired after flagging the issue to his bosses.

Twitter insists that Zatko was fired for poor performance.

Musk and Twitter are set to do legal battle in a Delaware court after the company sued the Tesla mogul for trying to back out of a $44 billion agreement to buy the social media site and take it private.

The world’s wealthiest person sought to abort the deal because he claimed the company wasn’t forthcoming about the proliferation of automated spam and bot accounts. Twitter disputes this.

Experts told The Post that Musk shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking that Zatko’s accusations will be a boon to his legal case against Twitter.

In the wake of Zatko’s allegations, The Post has learned from sources close to the situation that Musk plans to push for access to Twitter’s internal geolocation data related to spam and bot accounts during an upcoming court hearing on Wednesday.

The geolocation data could help Musk better analyze Twitter’s fake account problem, one source close to the case said. 

Additional reporting by Josh Kosman and Theo Wayt