London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Jul 22, 2025

How Twitter has been shaken by a whistleblower's allegations

How Twitter has been shaken by a whistleblower's allegations

In the days since it was first reported that former Twitter head of security Peiter "Mudge" Zatko had filed an explosive whistleblower disclosure, the company has had to confront renewed scrutiny from lawmakers, a dip in its stock price and added uncertainty in its high-stakes legal battle with billionaire Elon Musk.

In the disclosure, Zatko alleged that the company has serious security and privacy vulnerabilities that could put users, investors and US national security at risk. He also alleged that Twitter executives have misled regulators and even the company's own board about its shortcomings.

Twitter (TWTR) has criticized Zatko and broadly defended itself against the allegations, saying the disclosure paints a "false narrative" of the company and is "riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies." Zatko was fired from Twitter in January for what a company spokesperson said was "ineffective leadership and poor performance."

The slew of sharp reactions to Zatko's disclosure from lawmakers, regulators and cybersecurity industry experts, not to mention Musk's attorneys, raise the prospect that the claims could have significant and long-lasting implications for the social media company. To make matters worse, it comes at a time when Twitter has already been grappling with uncertainty among its employees, shareholders and advertisers from its pending deal with Musk.

The disclosure — which totals around 200 pages, including supporting exhibits — was sent last month to several US government agencies and congressional committees, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice. CNN obtained a copy of the disclosure from a senior Democratic aide on Capitol Hill. The SEC, DOJ and FTC declined to comment.

Twitter shares fell 7% Tuesday following news of the disclosure. The company's stock was already suffering amid Musk's attempt to get out of his $44 billion deal to acquire the platform, and is now trading at just over half of its all-time high near $80 last February.

Here is a look at the fallout in the immediate aftermath of the reporting on the disclosure:


Lawmakers and regulators start asking questions

On Wednesday, the day after the disclosure was first reported by CNN and The Washington Post, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced it would hold a hearing with Zatko to discuss his allegations of security failures and misleading statements by Twitter executives.

The hearing is slated for September 13, which just so happens to be the same day Twitter shareholders are set to vote on whether to approve Musk's $44 billion takeover deal.

"Mr. Zatko's allegations of widespread security failures and foreign state actor interference at Twitter raise serious concerns," said Sens. Dick Durbin and Chuck Grassley, the committee's chair and ranking Republican, respectively.

"If these claims are accurate, they may show dangerous data privacy and security risks for Twitter users around the world."

Other US lawmakers have also weighed in on the matter.

The Senate Intelligence Committee, which received a copy of the report, is taking the disclosure seriously and is setting a meeting to discuss the allegations, according to Rachel Cohen, a committee spokesperson. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who chairs the Senate subcommittee on consumer protection, wrote a letter to the FTC on Tuesday calling on the agency to investigate the claims, and impose fines and individual liability on specific Twitter executives if a probe finds they were responsible for security lapses. Sen. Ron Wyden on Wednesday renewed calls for Twitter to protect its users' direct messages from prying eyes with secure, end-to-end encryption.

Members of the US House Committee on Homeland Security on Thursday sent Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal a letter demanding that he address Zatko's allegations and explain Twitter's readiness for the 2022 midterms. And Twitter's main regulator in Europe, the Irish Data Protection Commission, has also said it is seeking information from the company in light of the allegations.


Implications for the Twitter-Musk Trial

The whistleblower disclosure could have major ramifications for Twitter's fight with Musk over their acquisition deal. But the Tesla CEO has been uncharacteristically quiet in the days since the news broke.

On Tuesday, Musk tweeted a meme of Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio's conscience in the Disney classic) with the words "give a little whistle," as well as a screenshot of a portion of a Washington Post story discussing Twitter's process for measuring spam bots. The latter issue has become central to Musk's attempt to exit the deal. (Twitter has said it stands by its publicly reported measurements and has accused Musk of using bots as a pretext to get out of a deal he now has buyer's remorse over.)

But while Musk has said little about Zatko, his lawyers are clearly interested in the former Twitter head of security. Musk lawyer Alex Spiro told CNN Tuesday that the billionaire's legal team had subpoenaed Zatko in the case even before news of the disclosure was reported.

In a Wednesday court hearing in the case, Spiro mentioned Zatko multiple times, in an early preview of how Musk's side might use the new allegations in his legal battle. Spiro suggested during the hearing that the billionaire's team does not trust Twitter's estimate for spam accounts and monetizable daily active users (mDAU), a key metric it provides to investors, and said Musk's team is requesting information that would allow them to test the measurements.

They have an economic incentive to mislead," Spiro said. "There's a whistleblower complaint that has now been filed publicly that talks about the false information provided."

In the disclosure, Zatko claimed that Twitter does not have an accurate count of the number of spam and fake bot accounts on its platform and that the company has little incentive to undertake a full count of such accounts, allegations that could potentially burnish Musk's claims. Musk's lawyers could also attempt to seize on other claims in the disclosure unrelated to bots — including allegations that Twitter made misrepresentations to regulators such as the Federal Trade Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission about its privacy and security practices — as additional reasons he should be able to walk away from the deal.

(Zatko told CNN that his disclosure is unrelated to the acquisition, that he has no personal relationship with Musk and that he began documenting the concerns that would become his disclosure before there was any indication of Musk's involvement with Twitter.)

Twitter says that it allows bots on its platform, such as good bots that tweet out news alerts, but its rules prohibit those that engage in spam or platform manipulation. The company says it regularly challenges, suspends and removes accounts engaged in spam and platform manipulation, including typically removing more than one million spam accounts each day. It declined to answer questions from CNN about the total number of accounts on the platform or total new accounts added each day.


Reassuring employees

Twitter executives have been pushing back against the allegations publicly, and trying to stem the fallout internally.
Agrawal on Tuesday wrote an internal memo to employees, vowing to challenge the allegations in the disclosure and seeking to reassure employees, calling the allegations "frustrating and confusing to read."

The situation also came up in a regularly scheduled, company-wide meeting at Twitter on Wednesday. Agrawal opened the meeting by pushing back on claims made by Zatko, saying a "false narrative" has been created about the company, which "is currently challenging our integrity." Details of the call were shared with CNN by a Twitter employee.

In the meeting Wednesday, Sean Edgett, Twitter's general counsel, said the company reached out to regulators and "various agencies around the world" when the company learned about the allegations being made by Zatko.

On Thursday, Twitter confirmed to CNN that it will combine its teams working to prevent toxic content and spam bots in order to better fight bad actors and increase transparency around its efforts to improve platform health, a move first reported by Reuters. A spokesperson did not directly respond to a question about whether the reorganization is related to the disclosure.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
×