In a whistleblower complaint, Twitter’s former security chief has raised serious questions not just about the company’s security practices, but the potential for foreign governments and entities to influence the company. According to Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, Twitter’s dealings with other countries could be putting the United States’ national security at risk. As reported by CNN, the complaint details specific concerns relating to Russia, China and India.
“A few months before CTO Parag Agrawal was promoted to CEO, Agrawal suggested to Mudge that Twitter should consider ceding to the Russian Federation’s censorship and surveillance demands as a way to grow users in Russia,” the complaint, published by The Washington Post, states.
The document doesn’t specify what steps Agrawal proposed. As CNN points out, Russia tried to force large tech companies, including Twitter, to open local offices in the country before its invasion of Ukraine. The complaint states that the “suggestion was never pursued or implemented,” but it notes that the mere suggestion is “cause for concern about Twitter’s effects on U.S. national security,” and that it was at odds with Jack Dorsey’s wishes.
Zatko also raises questions about Twitter’s financial relationship with unnamed “Chinese entities.” The complaint states that Twitter is “dependent upon revenue coming from Chinese entities even though the Twitter service is blocked in China.” The money led to “concerns within Twitter that the information the...
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