The testimony of Peter Zatkoa Twitter Inc TWTR Whistleblowers before the Senate on Tuesday highlighted fears over the presence of a Chinese agent on the platform’s payrolls.
What happened: Zatko revealed this in the week before his release from the Jack Dorsey-founded platform that he got to know from the USA Federal Office of Investigations had told Twitter about an agent of China Ministry of State Securityor MSSbe on the company’s payroll, reported Reuters.
The whistleblower reportedly said there was a “major internal mystery” at Twitter, with some teams looking to tap into Chinese advertisers and others worried about doing business with the country amid rising geopolitical unrest.
A Twitter spokesman said the company’s hiring process is free from foreign influence and access to data is managed through a combination of background checks and measures such as surveillance and detection systems, according to the report.
See also: How to Buy Twitter (TWTR) Stock
Why it matters: Zatko, Twitter’s former security chief, recalled before the Senate that a company colleague allegedly said, “Well, since we already have one [agent]what does it matter if we have more?”
He used to allegedly The Indian government had placed an agent on Twitter’s payroll, which was denied by the company’s Indian unit.
Zatko, a well-known hacker and programmer, said Twitter employees were concerned the Chinese government would be able to collect user data, according to the report.
Wedbush Analyst Dan Ive said these allegations would create a PR nightmare for Twitter and would demand investors to learn more.
The statement of the whistleblower is also gaining in importance in the midst of the current litigation in between Elon Musk and Twitter about his $44 billion buyout deal that the Tesla Inc TSLA CEO recently resigned.
But Zatko’s testimony, and the lack of evidence to support his claims about Twitter’s inadequate controls on spam bots, won’t exactly…
