Aug 10, 2022 16:00:00

A former Twitter employee is convicted of receiving a bribe and distributing personal information to the Saudi government

A former Twitter employee has been found guilty by a federal court in San Francisco of handing over data of Twitter users critical of the Saudi government to the government.

Former Twitter Employee Convicted of Spying for Saudi Arabia - Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-09/former-twitter-employee-is-convicted-of-spying-for-saudi-arabia

Ex-Twitter employee Ahmad Abouammo convicted of spying for Saudi Arabia
https://nypost.com/2022/08/09/ex-twitter-employee-ahmad-abouammo-convicted-of-spying-for-saudi-arabia/

Ex-Twitter employee convicted of spying for Saudi Arabia - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/9/23298841/former-twitter-employee-convicted-spying-saudi-arabia

An American employee, Ahmad Abouammo, who was Twitter's media partnership manager for the Middle East region, was reportedly charged in 2019 with unauthorized access to Twitter's sensitive data, along with Saudi engineer Ali Alzabarah. said to have been indicted.

The information that Abouammo and others accessed by using their position as a Twitter employee was the e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and IPs of more than 6,000 Twitter users, including 33 whom the Saudi government had asked Twitter to disclose. such as an address. Abouammo diverted the data of Twitter users critical of the Saudi government to officials, and in return received luxury watches and $300,000 (about 40.5 million yen).

The Saudi government official to whom Abouammo leaked information is said to be an aide to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. Prince Salman is known for his

understanding of anime and games, as it was found that he owns 96% of the stock of SNK, a Japanese game company. There is also the aspect of a dictator who is problematic from the perspective of human rights, such as being accused of being involved in the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In court, Abouammo argued that he was merely working as a Twitter employee and accused Twitter of failing to protect user data. However, on August 9, 2022, a San Francisco federal court jury found Abouammo guilty of acting as agent for Saudi Arabia, money laundering, conspiring to commit wire fraud, and falsifying records. rice field. As a result, Abouammo will be sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison.

After Abouammo's conviction, the FBI continued to want Alzabarah, a Saudi man who conspired with Abouammo, and Ahmed Al-Mutairi, a Saudi man named in the complaint as having ties to the Saudi royal family. increase.

Several media outlets reached out to Twitter about the matter, but the company did not respond to requests for comment.