The Indian government had forced Twitter to hire government agents, who had access to sensitive user data, Peiter Zatko, Twitter’s former security chief, said in an 84-page complaint filed last month with several government agencies.

“India, Nigeria and Russia have all sought, with varying success, to force Twitter to hire local [full-time employees] that could be used as leverage,” said the disclosure. The Washington Post and CNN were the first to publish the story.

Zatko, also known as “Mudge” is a well-known cybersecurity expert, who first joined Twitter in 2020 after the company suffered a substantial security breach that damaged its reputation. He was fired in January.

“Twitter has withheld that fact from its public transparency reports,” it added.

The Indian government, led by the BJP leader Narendra Modi, has been criticised for cracking down on dissent and perceived rivals in recent years. Pakistan, the neighbouring country, has many times accused India of running propaganda campaigns against the country.

In 2019, a European group uncovered that an Indian disinformation network was operating since 2005 to discredit nations in conflict with Delhi, particularly Pakistan.

‘Exceptionally vulnerable’

“Twitter was exceptionally vulnerable to exploitation by foreign governments in ways that threaten US national security, and may even have foreign spies currently active on its payroll,” Zatko said alleging that the social media giant had falsely claimed to have a strong security plan and that half of the company’s servers relied on software that was “outdated and vulnerable” to hackers.

He alleged that Twitter executives including now-CEO Parag Agrawal have put Twitter users and employees at risk in the pursuit of short-term growth.

Zatko has held senior roles at Google, Stripe and the US Defence Department submitted his disclosure after months of “trying unsuccessfully” to inform Twitter about the dangers it faced.

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