WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (Reuters) – The chair of the U.S. Home of Representatives Homeland Safety and a key subcommittee demanded on Thursday that Twitter (TWTR.N) Chief Govt Parag Agrawal handle “disturbing whistleblower allegations concerning poor safety and privateness practices.”
Democratic Representatives Bennie Thompson and Yvette Clarke additionally requested Twitter in a letter to element its preparations for the 2022 elections and reply allegations raised by former Twitter safety chief Peiter “Mudge” Zatko that the social media firm misled regulators.
The 84-page grievance from Zatko, a famed hacker who used his experience to bolster safety for firms and the federal government, accused Twitter of falsely claiming it had a stable safety plan and making deceptive statements about its defenses in opposition to hackers and spam accounts.
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The lawmakers famous Zatko pointed “to a number of situations the place Twitter executives obfuscated and mischaracterized data to Congress, regulators, and its personal board – and will have even bowed to stress from international governments to place their operatives on the corporate’s payroll. If any of those allegations are true, Twitter has a staggering safety to-do record.”
The lawmakers requested Twitter for its plan “to prioritize, treatment, and handle safety deficiencies raised in Mr. Zatko’s grievance” and the way will it “prioritize safety upgrades essential to fight disinformation in time for the upcoming midterm elections?”
Zatko has already mentioned his grievance with workers for the Senate Judiciary Committee, Home Power and Commerce Committee, and Senate Intelligence Committee, based on a spokesperson for Zatko. The U.S. Senate Judiciary committee has mentioned it can maintain a Sept. 13 listening to with Zatko.
Zatko’s grievance made quite a few claims and alleged Twitter prioritized person development over decreasing spam, with executives eligible to win particular person bonuses of as a lot as $10 million tied to will increase in every day customers, and nothing explicitly for reducing spam, based on paperwork relayed by congressional investigators. learn extra
Twitter didn’t instantly reply to requests for Thursday. This week, it labeled the grievance a “false narrative.” learn extra
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Reporting by David Shepardson; Modifying by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio
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