Twitter executives put profit ahead of security, opening the platform to infiltration by foreign agents and hackers, the company's former head of security told Congress on Tuesday.
"Twitter leadership is misleading the public, lawmakers, regulators and even its own board of directors," Peiter "Mudge" Zatko told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The company's cybersecurity failures make it vulnerable to exploitation, causing real harm to real people."
In a federal whistleblower complaint made public last month, Zatko accused the company of lax security practices, neglecting user privacy, misleading regulators in violation of a 2011 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, and knowingly employing foreign government agents who had access to internal systems and data.
The complaint has raised alarm bells in Washington, given the platform's role as a place where government leaders, dissidents and businesses turn to get their message out.
Zatko's disclosures have also thrown a new twist into Twitter's legal battle with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is trying to back out of a $44 billion deal to buy the company. The billionaire has seized on Zatko's claims as further justification for walking away from the purchase without penalty.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed at Tuesday's hearing that the FBI had warned Twitter that a Chinese agent was on its payroll, a previously undisclosed detail from Zatko's complaint.
Zatko said Twitter struggled to identify potential...
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