By Clare Duffy, CNN Business
In the days following the first announcement that Twitter’s former security director, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, had filed an explosive complaint, the company faced extensive scrutiny from lawmakers, a drop in its percentage price and increased uncertainty about its upper level.
In the disclosure, Zatko alleged that the company had serious security and privacy vulnerabilities that could endanger users, investors and U. S. national security. USA He also alleged that Twitter executives misled regulators and even the company’s own board of directors about its shortcomings.
Twitter criticized Zatko and defended itself widely against the allegations, saying the disclosure represents a “false narrative” of the company and is “deceived with inconsistencies and inaccuracies. “poor performance. “
The multitude of strong reactions to Zatko’s disclosure from lawmakers, regulators and cybersecurity industry experts, to mention Musk’s lawyers, hints at the option that the allegations may have significant and lasting implications for the social media company. To make matters worse, this comes at a time when Twitter is already grappling with uncertainty from its employees, shareholders and advertisers about its ongoing deal with Musk.
The release, which totals about two hundred pages in addition to supporting documents, was sent last month to various government agencies and U. S. congressional committees. In the U. S. , and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Justice were added. disclosure of a senior Democratic official on Capitol Hill. The SEC, DOJ and FTC declined to comment.
Twitter shares fell 7% on Tuesday after the disclosure was announced. The company’s stock was already suffering amid Musk’s attempt to pull out of his $44 billion deal to get the platform, and they are now trading at just over their record of nearly $80. Last February.
Here is a review of the notice action after the disclosure is reported:
On Wednesday, a day after the disclosure revealed via CNN and the Washington Post, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced it would hold a hearing with Zatko to discuss his allegations of security flaws and misleading statements through Twitter executives.
The hearing is scheduled for Sept. 13, which will be the same day Twitter shareholders are expected to vote to approve Musk’s $44 billion purchase deal.
“Zatko’s allegations of security breaches and interference through foreign state actors on Twitter raise serious concerns,” the chiefs said. Dick Durbin and Chuck Grassley, committee chairman and ranking Republican, respectively. “If those claims are accurate, they can show harmful dangers to knowledge, privacy and security for Twitter users around the world. “
Other U. S. lawmakers have weighed in on the issue.
The Senate Intelligence Committee, which obtained a copy of the report, is taking the disclosure seriously and is organizing a meeting to discuss the allegations, according to Rachel Cohen, a spokeswoman for the committee. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, wrote a letter to the FTC Tuesday asking the company to investigate the allegations and impose fines and individual liability on certain Twitter executives if an investigation proves they were guilty for safety. Sen. Ron Wyden on Wednesday renewed calls to Twitter to protect its users’ direct messages from prying eyes with secure end-to-end encryption.
Members of the U. S. House of Representatives Homeland Security CommitteeThe U. S. Government sent a letter to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal on Thursday asking him to respond to Zatko’s allegations and Twitter’s preparation for the 2022 midterm elections. And Twitter’s top regulator in Europe, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, also said it was looking for data from the company in light of the allegations.
The whistleblower’s disclosure may have major ramifications for Twitter’s fight with Musk over his takeover deal. But Tesla’s CEO has been unusually quiet since the news was announced.
On Tuesday, Musk tweeted a Jiminy Cricket meme (Pinocchio’s in the Disney classic) with the words “give a little whistle,” as well as a screenshot of a component of a Washington Post article analyzing Twitter’s procedure for measuring spambots. This last factor has become central to Musk’s attempt to close the deal. (Twitter said it would stick to its measures made public and accused Musk of employing bots as a pretext to pull out of a deal the buyer now regrets. )
But while Musk has said little about Zatko, his lawyers are obviously interested in twitter’s former security chief. Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, told CNN on Tuesday that the billionaire’s legal team had sued Zatko in the case even before the disclosure was reported.
At a hearing Wednesday in the case, Spiro spoke about Zatko several times, in a first look at how Musk’s team might use the new allegations in their legal battle. Spiro warned at the hearing that the billionaire’s team did not accept as true Twitter’s estimate for spam accounts and monetizable daily active users (mDAU), a key metric it provides to investors, and said Musk’s team was requesting data that would allow them to verify the metrics.
“They have an economic incentive to cheat,” Spiro said. “There is a whistleblower complaint that has now been filed publicly that talks about the false provided. “
In the disclosure, Zatko claimed that Twitter did not have an accurate count of the number of spam and fake bot accounts on its platform and that the company had little incentive to conduct a full count of those accounts, allegations that could potentially bolster Musk. claims. Musk’s lawyers may also try to tame other allegations in the disclosure unrelated to bots, adding allegations that Twitter made false statements to regulators like the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission about its privacy and security practices. , as well as other reasons why you might withdraw from the case.
(Zatko told CNN that his disclosure was not similar to the acquisition, that he had no non-public appointments with Musk and that he began documenting the considerations that would entail his disclosure before there was any indication of Musk’s involvement in Twitter. )
Twitter says it allows bots on its platform, such as smart bots that tweet news alerts, but its regulations prohibit those that interact with spam or manipulate the platform. The company says it challenges, suspends and removes accounts involved in spam and platform manipulation, adding the overall removal of more than a million spam accounts each day. He declined to answer CNN’s questions about the total number of accounts on the platform or the total number of new accounts added each day.
Twitter executives publicly rejected the allegations and tried to stop the consequences internally.
Agrawal wrote an internal memo to workers on Tuesday, received via CNN, pledging to challenge the allegations in the disclosure and reassure workers, calling the allegations “frustrating and confusing to read. “
The scenario was also raised Wednesday at a normal company-wide assembly on Twitter. Agrawal opened the assembly by rejecting Zatko’s claims, saying a “false narrative” has been created about the company, which “lately our integrity is being questioned. “Details of the call were shared with CNN via a Twitter employee.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Sean Edgett, Twitter’s general counsel, said the company contacted regulators and “several agencies around the world” when the company learned of Zatko’s allegations.
On Thursday, Twitter showed CNN that it will combine its groups to save it from harmful content and spam bots to better fight the bad guys and build transparency around its efforts for the platform’s health, a move first reported through Reuters. A spokesperson did not respond directly to the query of whether the reorganization is similar to disclosure.
El-CNN-Wire™
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