Saudi Government Paid Twitter Insiders to Spy on Dissidents
Newly unsealed court documents reveal that Saudi officials bribed Twitter employees to access personal data of political activists and journalists.
Recently unsealed court documents reveal that Saudi Arabian officials allegedly pay at least two Twitter employees to steal personal user data. Ahmad Abouammo, a media partnerships manager, and Ali Alzabarah, an engineer, accept bribes of designer watches and tens of thousands of dollars to access sensitive information on thousands of accounts. The targets include political activists and journalists who criticize the Saudi royal family, and both men face charges for acting as unregistered agents for a foreign government.
Alzabarah meets with a member of the Saudi royal family in Washington, D.C. and begins extracting data on at least 33 specific users within a week. When Twitter supervisors question his suspicious activity, he claims he acts out of mere curiosity. However, he flees the United States for Saudi Arabia with his family the very next day after his forced departure from the company, and now works for the Saudi government.
This insider recruitment prompts Twitter to warn thousands of users about potential state-sponsored attacks back in 2015, though the company initially states it finds no evidence of data exfiltration. The social media platform limits access to sensitive account information to a vetted group of employees, but declines to answer specific questions about new preventive measures. The FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice continue to investigate the open case, which promises to reveal more details soon.