Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, the Twitter whistleblower, argued that regulatory agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission are not powerful enough to deal with Big Tech companies like Twitter.
Zatko, formerly Twitter’s head of security, testified in Congress Tuesday on the details regarding the social media company’s security practices. While he focused primarily on the possibility that the company’s practices make it vulnerable to foreign actors, he also noted that U.S. regulators could not do enough to oversee it.
When asked by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) if regulators are capable of keeping Big Tech in check, Zatko said that the agencies are “outgunned.”
TWITTER EMPLOYEES WORRIED ABOUT CHINESE ACCESS TO USER DATA, WHISTLEBLOWER SAYS
“The FTC is a little over their head. … They’re left letting big companies grade their own homework,” Zatko said. He also claimed that Twitter was more concerned about foreign regulators than those in the United States.
Several members of Congress, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), spoke at the hearing about plans to pass bills such as the American Innovation and Choice Online Act to provide additional funding and powers to regulators to rein in Big Tech.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal was invited to appear before Congress on Tuesday, according to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), but he declined to do so due to the legal trial between Twitter and Elon Musk. Grassley berated Agrawal, saying that the security problems mentioned by Zatko were more important than his litigation. He said that Agrawal should step down if these claims were valid.
Zatko filed a Securities and Exchanges Commission whistleblower complaint in July, alleging that Twitter did not take proper action to uphold its 2011 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over accusations that it failed to safeguard user data. He claimed that Twitter falsely said that it had a security plan and had incorporated all of the agency’s requests.
Twitter agreed to pay Zatko a $7.75 million settlement days before he filed his original whistleblower complaint against the company, according to the Wall Street Journal. The settlement included a nondisclosure agreement forbidding him from speaking about his time at Twitter.
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The former hacker, known as “Mudge,” was also subpoenaed by Musk’s legal team for documents related to his claims. He was also referenced in Musk’s second and third attempts to terminate his deal with Twitter on Aug. 30.
