Twitter has misled users and federal agencies about glaring weaknesses in protecting personal information, the platform’s former security chief claimed in a whistleblower testimony likely to influence the company’s bitter legal battle over Elon Musk’s takeover bid.
In a complaint filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and published in part by The Washington Post and CNN on Tuesday, Peiter Zatko also accused Twitter of grossly underestimating the number of automated bots on the platform — a key element in Musk’s argument for withdrawing his bot’s $44 billion buyout deal.
CNN cites Zatko’s disclosure with Twitter’s accusation of “negligence, willful ignorance, and threats to national security and democracy.”
Zatko, whom Twitter says it fired earlier this year for poor performance, has warned both US authorities about outdated servers, software vulnerable to computer attacks and executives trying to hide the number of hacking attempts as well as to the board of directors of the company.
The hacker-turned-executive, nicknamed “Mudge,” also reportedly claims that Twitter prioritizes growing its user base over fighting spam and bots.
In particular, according to The Washington Post, he accused the platform’s head, Parag Agrawal, of “lying” in a May tweet.
In the tweet, Agrawal says that Twitter “has a strong incentive to identify and remove as much spam as possible.”
Twitter rejects the allegations.
A company spokesman told AFP on Tuesday that Zatko was fired in January this year for “ineffective leadership and poor performance.”
“What we have seen so far is a false narrative about Twitter and our privacy and data security practices that is fraught with contradictions and inaccuracies and lacks important context,” the spokesman said in a statement.
The “opportunistic timing” of the allegations “appears destined to draw attention and cause harm to Twitter, its customers and shareholders,” the statement continued.
“Security and privacy have long been, and will continue to be, company-wide priorities at Twitter.”
– Subpoena from Musk –
The issue of fake accounts is at the center of the legal dispute between Twitter and Tesla boss Musk.
The billionaire has repeatedly accused the company of minimizing the number of fake accounts and spam on its platform.
Musk relies on the argument to justify abandoning his plan to buy Twitter for $44 billion and avoiding a settlement.
CNN said Zatko had no contact with Musk and started the whistleblower process before there were any indications of the billionaire’s involvement with Twitter.
“We already issued a subpoena for Mr. Zatko, and we found his departure and that of other key employees odd given what we found,” Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, told AFP on Tuesday.
Both the Washington Post and CNN reported that the US Senate Intelligence Committee plans to meet with Zatko to discuss his allegations.
Zatko was hired by founder and former Twitter boss Jack Dorsey in late 2020 after a massive hack that compromised the accounts of key users including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, reality star Kim Kardashian and Musk himself.
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