Former Twitter Security Chief Says Company Was Untruthful About Amount Of Bots And Protecting Users’ Info

A former security chief for Twitter says the company hasn’t been honest about the platform’s security measures, how many bots the site has, and more.

Longtime cybersecurity expert and former hacker Peiter “Mudge” Zatko is spilling what appears to be tea about Twitter, its alleged negligence regarding security practices, its spam and bot count on the platform, and much more. Zatko — who was hired as Twitter’s security chief — was fired in January of this year. He claims his firing stemmed from the company trying to get back at him for refusing to keep quiet about Twitter’s internal issues.

But, last month, Zatko clapped back in a 200-page complaint to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is already on Twitter’s back for allegedly not upholding an agreement it made with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over required security standards.

In his filing, Zatko claims Twitter ignored bots and lied about there being less than 5 percent among its daily active users. In addition, he said Twitter has previously failed to delete users’ data when asked to and is misleading the FTC by being negligent in protecting users’ personal information, among other claims.

In response, a spokesperson for Twitter told CNN: “Mr. Zatko was fired from his senior executive role at Twitter for poor performance and ineffective leadership over six months ago. While we haven’t had access to the specific allegations being referenced, what we’ve seen so far is a narrative about our privacy and data security practices that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies, and lacks important context. Mr. Zatko’s allegations and opportunistic timing appear designed to capture attention and inflict harm on Twitter, its customers, and its shareholders. Security and privacy have long been company-wide priorities at Twitter, and we still have a lot of work ahead of us.”

The FTC is reviewing the complaint.