The Twitter stock was hit today by the news that the company’s former head of security, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, had filed a whistleblower complaint accusing it of failing to protect sensitive user data. Zatko was fired by Twitter in January for what the company claims were poor performance. He was previously the company’s head of security, reporting directly to the CEO. Zatko is represented by Whistleblower Aid, which also represented Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.
Peiter Zatko‘s submission says that he “uncovered extreme, egregious deficiencies by Twitter in every area of his mandate,” including privacy, digital and physical security, platform integrity, and content moderation. Zatko claims that Twitter executives, including CEO Parag Agarwal, deliberately undercounted the prevalence of spam on the platform.
Midmorning, shares in Twitter traded around $41, down more than 5% from Monday’s close. CNN and the Washington Post reported the former Twitter executive had sent a whistleblower disclosure last month to Congress and federal agencies about the company’s security.
