Former Twitter Employee Convicted of Spying for Saudi Government
A federal jury convicts a former Twitter media partnership manager of spying on and leaking user data to Saudi Arabia. The defendant faces up to 20 years in prison for his role in the international surveillance scheme.
A federal jury convicts former Twitter employee Ahmad Abouammo of acting as a spy for the Saudi Arabian government. The court finds him guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, falsifying records, and money laundering, charges that carry a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors argue that a close associate of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman recruits Abouammo to harvest sensitive personal data from Twitter accounts belonging to government critics. Abouammo allegedly hands over private information such as email addresses, phone numbers, and birth dates in exchange for cash and luxury goods, though his defense claims he accesses this data strictly for his normal job duties.
The trial highlights the extreme dangers faced by dissidents who speak out against the Saudi regime, drawing indirect connections to the brutal 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. While a second Twitter employee implicated in the scheme flees to Saudi Arabia to avoid trial, Abouammo's conviction brings a degree of accountability to the tech industry's ongoing struggles with international state-sponsored surveillance.