A former Twitter Inc chief of security said the Indian government forced the social media company to put a government agent on the payroll, according to a whistleblower disclosure with US regulators.
Peiter ‘Mudge’ Zatko raised the matter with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission among other claims on Twitter about the security leak.
He claimed the government agent would have had access to sensitive user data due to Twitter’s weak security infrastructure, according to a drafted version of the complaint uploaded by the Washington Post newspaper and verified by Zatko’s attorney at Whistleblower Aid.
A company source told Reuters that allegations about the Indian government had surfaced earlier on Twitter, without delving further.
Representatives from India’s IT ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“What we have seen so far is a false narrative on Twitter and our privacy and data security practices that is full of inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement regarding the allegations. by Zatko.
Twitter is engaged in a legal challenge against the Indian government after asking a local court in July to overturn some government orders to remove content from the social media platform and alleged abuse of power by officials.
The next hearing on the case is set for Thursday.
“The company did not actually disclose to users that the executive team believed the Indian government had succeeded in getting agents on the company’s payroll,” Zatko’s complaint noted.
The Washington Post report states that information supporting Zatko’s claims had gone to the National Security Division of the US Department of Justice and the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Earlier this month, a US court sentenced a former Twitter manager accused of spying on behalf of Saudi Arabia on six counts, including acting as an agent for the country and trying to disguise a payment from an official. linked to the Saudi royal family.