According to a whistleblower complaint by Twitter’s former Chief of Security Peiter Zatko, the social media giant misled regulators about hackers and spam.
In an 84-page complaint filed last month with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice, as well as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Zatko alleges that Twitter has major security problems that threaten users’ personal information, shareholders and national security.
The complaint was also sent to congress with allegations that the company is a mismanaged, chaotic mess that allows too many people to access sensitive data. The complaint goes on to claim that leadership at Twitter knowingly mislead its board and regulators about serious vulnerabilities – including that at least one of its employees may be working for foreign intelligence.
Twitter and Musk have sued each other, with Twitter asking a judge to make Musk go through with the deal. A trial is scheduled for Oct. 17.
Chuck Grassley, The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said the complaint raises serious national security concerns,
“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.
According to the whistleblower Twitter dished out $10 million bonuses to executives who increased daily users, prioritizing user growth over cutting spam.
Musk reacted to the whistleblower complaint with a tweet showing Jiminy Cricket and the words ‘Give a little whistle.’
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 23, 2022
