Former Twitter Employee Convicted of Spying for Saudi Government
A federal jury convicts a former Twitter media partnerships manager of spying and wire fraud for sharing user data with Saudi Arabia. The case highlights the extreme risks faced by critics of the Saudi regime on social media platforms.
A former Twitter employee faces up to 20 years in prison after a federal jury convicts him of spying on behalf of Saudi Arabia. Ahmad Abouammo works on media partnerships for the Middle East region from 2014 to 2015 before accepting cash and luxury goods in exchange for accessing private user data. The jury finds him guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, falsifying records, and money laundering.
The prosecution argues that a prominent member of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman's government taps Abouammo to investigate enemies of the regime. Abouammo collects sensitive personal information, including birth dates, email addresses, and phone numbers of Saudi critics, and sends this data directly to his contacts in the kingdom. His defense claims he only accesses this information as part of his normal job duties.
This conviction sheds light on the dangerous consequences for dissidents who speak out against the Saudi government on social media. Although the jury does not hear direct instructions about the brutal punishments the regime inflicts on critics, witnesses describe the chilling reality of users who disappear after posting criticism online. This secret data sharing prompts Twitter to send out state-sponsored hacking warnings to targeted users back in 2015.