Twitter misled regulators on hackers and spam, says whistleblower

Twitter misled federal regulators about its defences against hackers and spam accounts, social media company’s former security chief Peiter Zatko said in a whistle- blower complaint.

In an 84- page complaint, Zatko, a hacker more widely known as “Mudge”, alleged Twitter falsely claimed it had a solid security plan, according to documents relayed by congressional investigators.

The accusations come as the social media company battles Elon Musk in court after the world’s richest person attempted to pull out of $ 44bn deal to buy the company, citing Twitter’s failure to provide details about the prevalence of bot and spam accounts.

Tesla CEO Musk had offered to buy Twitter for $ 54.20 per share, saying he believed it could be a global platform for free speech. Twitter’s shares fell 5% to $ 40.79 in afternoon trading.

Twitter and Musk have sued each other, with Twitter asking a judge on the Delaware Court of Chancery to order Musk to close the deal. A trial is scheduled for October 17.

The complaint by Zatko was filed last month with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the justice department, as well as the Federal Trade Commission ( FTC). The complaint, which was first published by the Washington Post and CNN, was also sent to congressional committees.

“We are reviewing the redacted claims that have been published but what we have seen so far is a false narrative that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies,” Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal told employees in a memo.

The Senate judiciary committee’s top Republican, Chuck Grassley, said the complaint raised serious national security concerns and privacy issues and needed to be investigated.

“Take a tech platform that collects massive amounts of user data, combine it with what appears to be an incredibly weak security infrastructure, and infuse it with foreign state actors with an agenda, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster,” he said.

Reuters