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Twitter claims that its users’ data is extremely secure
The company’s reputation may be affected by the data case leaked to the Saudi Arabian government
With over 290 million people on Twitter, keeping your data secure is a challenge in itself
San Francisco. A former Twitter employee in the US has been convicted of acting as an agent for Saudi Arabia and leaking personal data of users who criticize the Saudi government. Ahmed Abuammo, a US citizen, was working at Twitter as Media Partnership Manager for the Middle East region. Ahmed is accused of acting as an agent for Saudi Arabia without registering with the US government three years ago.
After hearing these cases, a jury found Ahmed guilty on six counts, including felony counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. However, Ahmed was also acquitted of five other charges related to wire fraud. For the first time since the revelations of the espionage scandal, Saudi Arabia has been seriously accused of spying on the US through its vast oil reserves and security apparatus. A 2019 FBI complaint alleges that Abu Ammo and Saudi national Ali Alzabarah abused their positions to access confidential Twitter data about users, including their email addresses, phone numbers and IPs.
A third person named in the complaint, Ahmed al-Mutari, a Saudi national, was accused of acting as a mediator with the Saudi royal family. According to the complaint, data was accessed from over six thousand Twitter accounts, including the names of at least 33 users.
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tags: saudi arabia, Twitter, America
First Published: 10 August 2022, 08:45 IST
