Former head of security for Twitter says the company misled regulators

Peiter Zatko, who used to be Twitter’s head of security, stated in a whistleblower federal complaint in July that Twitter had a myriad of wide-ranging information security system issues, according to a copy of the complaint, which was made public on Tuesday.

The complaint alleges that Twitter sacrificed both security and dealing with spam, in favour of growth. The complaint also notes that a few Twitter employees were eligible to receive $10 million bonuses if daily users grew by a certain amount.

Twitter hit back at Zatko through their CEO Parag Agrawal, who worked at the company from November 2020 to January 2022, claiming he was spreading a “false narrative about Twitter” and was relieved of his duties for “ineffective leadership and poor performance.” Twitter went on to say that Zatko’s comments are “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context.”

“We are reviewing the redacted claims that have been published, but what we’ve seen so far is a false narrative that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies, and presented without important context,” Agrawal said in a message to staff on Tuesday.

“I know this is frustrating and confusing to read, given Mudge was accountable for many aspects of this work that he is now inaccurately portraying more than six months after his termination,” he said, per CNN. “Given the spotlight on Twitter at the moment, we can assume that we will continue to see more headlines in the coming days — this will only make our work harder.”

He added, “We will pursue all paths to defend our integrity as a company and set the record straight.”

Katko’s legal team hit back at Twitter for their characterization of Zatko. “Mr. Zatko repeatedly raised concerns about Twitter’s grossly inadequate information security systems to the Company’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors throughout his tenure,” they said, adding: “On January 19, 2022, a mere two weeks after Mr. Zatko clashed with Mr. Agrawal and Mr. Kordestani about these issues, Twitter abruptly terminated his employment.”