JAKARTA - A former Twitter Inc security chief has alleged that the Indian government forced the social media company to put government agents on their payroll. This was revealed when a whistleblower named Peiter 'Mudge' Zatko, conveyed it to regulators in the US.
Zatko raised the matter with the US Securities and Exchange Commission among several other security claims on Twitter. He said Indian government agencies would have access to sensitive user data because of Twitter's weak security infrastructure. This was revealed in a report uploaded by the Washington Post newspaper. The report has been verified by Zatko's lawyer at Whistleblower Aid.
A source on Twitter also told Reuters that these allegations about the Indian government had surfaced previously on Twitter. But he did not want to explain further about his statement.
A representative for India's IT ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters, which cornered their government.
"What we have seen so far is a false narrative about Twitter and our privacy and data security practices that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks significant context," a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement regarding Zatko's allegations.
Twitter is embroiled in a legal battle with the Indian government after asking a local court in July to overturn several orders by the Indian government to remove content from the social media platform, and allegations of abuse of power by officials.
The next hearing in the case is set for Thursday, August 25.
"The company did not actually disclose to users that the executive team believed that the Indian government had succeeded in placing the agent on the company's payroll," the complaint said.
The Washington Post report also said that supporting information for Zatko's claim had been provided to the National Security Division of the US Department of Justice and the US Senate Intelligence Committee.
The report also reveals how stories of corrupt Indian police like in Bollywood films may actually be true in this case of Twitter.
Earlier this month, a US court convicted a former Twitter manager accused of spying on Saudi Arabia on six criminal counts, including acting as a state agent and trying to disguise payments from an official linked to Saudi Arabia's royal family.
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