At Least One Chinese Intelligence Agent Was on Twitter... No Effort to Root Out Despite Warnings

Peter Zatko speaking at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the 13th (local time)
Photo by AP News

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] A former security chief of the social networking service (SNS) Twitter who became a whistleblower raised concerns about Chinese and other foreign intelligence agents working at Twitter’s overseas offices, but testified before the U.S. Congress that Twitter did not make efforts to root them out.

According to CNN and other outlets on the 13th (local time), whistleblower Peter Zatko, who was in charge of security at Twitter, appeared at a hearing held by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and said, "Twitter operated an incentive system that prioritized profit over security." Cybersecurity expert Zatko worked as Twitter’s security chief from November 2020 until last January. In July, through the nonprofit legal organization Whistleblower Aid, he filed a complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Justice, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), accusing Twitter of falsely claiming to federal authorities that it had strong security measures against hackers and spam accounts, and internally exposing that Twitter had exaggerated its hacking and spam defense capabilities.

At the hearing, Zatko testified that he raised concerns about foreign intelligence agents working at Twitter’s overseas offices, but Twitter showed no willingness to make efforts to identify those individuals. According to him, the company was only focused on expanding profits and neglected security issues. He said that when he informed Twitter’s management, he was told, "If there is already one, what’s the problem if more come in? Let’s just grow the office."

Zatko specifically revealed that about a week before he was fired in January, he received a notification from the FBI that at least one official from China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) was present within Twitter. It is unclear whether Twitter took action such as terminating this individual, but at the hearing, Zatko confirmed to Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who verified that the FBI had notified Twitter, that he and other insiders at Twitter were aware that Twitter had become a target of foreign intelligence agencies.

Zatko also said, "There were thousands of weekly failed attempts to access internal systems at Twitter, but no one paid attention." He added, "It was extremely difficult to track these people because we lacked the ability to record or see what they were doing or what information they were accessing." Citing internal company documents, he pointed out that Twitter only knew the reasons for collection, usage purposes, and deletion timing for 20% of the personal data it collected, stating, "For the rest of the personal data, Twitter does not know what kind of data it is or why it was collected. Therefore, surprisingly, it cannot protect it."

Most Democratic and Republican lawmakers attending the hearing expressed concerns about Twitter’s security situation. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Dick Durbin (Democrat) said, "Earlier this year, a Saudi Arabian employee working at Twitter was convicted of stealing personal information of dissidents critical of the Saudi regime. As revealed in the Jamal Khashoggi assassination, this is a matter of life and death for dissidents," adding, "It is unacceptable for security to be weak on such a powerful platform as Twitter." Senator Grassley said, "If Zatko’s revelations are true, I don’t know how Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO, can keep his position."

In response to Zatko’s criticisms, Twitter reiterated its official stance issued after the July whistleblowing, stating that the claims were inconsistent and inaccurate. Without addressing Zatko’s specific remarks, Twitter stated that its hiring process is independent from external interference and that measures such as background checks, access control adjustments, and system monitoring are in place to protect information. Although there was speculation that CEO Agrawal might attend the hearing, he notified that he would not participate due to ongoing litigation with CEO Elon Musk.

This hearing was held ahead of the legal dispute between Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, which is set to begin in Delaware next month on the 17th. On the same day, Twitter shareholders held a general meeting and approved the sale of Twitter to CEO Musk for $54.20 per share, totaling $44 billion. This was the amount Musk had proposed before declaring the acquisition void in July, citing Twitter’s insufficient disclosure about fake account status. The current stock price is $41.74, more than 20% lower than the planned sale price.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.