(RoyalPatriot.com )- According to U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley’s opening remarks at a Senate hearing last week, disclosures from a former Twitter executive turned whistleblower demonstrate that the social media giant was aware of at least one Chinese agent working for it.
During the hearing, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, a well-known hacker who served as Twitter’s director of security until his dismissal last year, stated that several Twitter workers were concerned that the Chinese government would be able to acquire data on the company’s users.
Zatko pointed to a Reuters report that described internal squabbles between some employees eager to increase advertising revenue from Chinese sponsors and others wary of doing business in China amid escalating geopolitical concerns.
According to Zatko, it was a significant internal issue. Twitter was hesitant to abandon China as the fastest-growing international ad revenue market.
According to the whistleblower disclosures, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation warned Twitter of at least one Chinese agent working for the firm, Grassley said in his opening comments.
Zatko explained that he discovered an operative of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), an agency equivalent to the CIA, was on Twitter’s payroll a week before firing.
It’s unclear whether Twitter still employs the suspected Chinese spy.
Zatko testified that he had communicated with another Twitter official regarding suspicions that a foreign agent was working within the firm. The executive stated that if we already have one, what does it matter if we have more?
Grassley stated that Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal declined to participate in the hearing for fear of jeopardizing the company’s dispute against Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Inc.
The San Francisco-based corporation sued Musk for breach of contract, and Musk responded by accusing Twitter of exaggerating the number of fraudulent and spam accounts on its platform.
Last week, a Delaware court determined that Musk may use Zatko’s whistleblower allegations in his action against Twitter but denied Musk’s plea to postpone the trial.
Reports show the Senate Judiciary Committee is questioning Zatko about his charges that Twitter misled authorities about its compliance with the Federal Trade Commission and its management of user data.
Is anyone surprised that Twitter seems comfortable with Communists?
