During a Senate hearing where a whistleblower spoke, US Senator Chuck Grassley said the FBI alerted Twitter Inc of at least one Chinese spy working at the firm, raising new worries about foreign influence at the prominent social media network.
Some Twitter workers were concerned that the Chinese government would be able to acquire data on the company's users, according to Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, a famous hacker who served as Twitter's director of security until his termination in January.
Twitter has already been chastised for insufficient security, most notably in 2020, when adolescent hackers took control of dozens of high-profile accounts, including former US President Barack Obama's verified profile.
Zatko's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee indicated that Twitter's security concerns may be significantly more serious than previously thought. serious, alleging for the first time that the company was informed of agents of the Chinese government working at the social media firm.
Despite this, Twitter shares increased over 1% during a severe market selloff. The stock nearly entirely swings dependent on whether entrepreneur Elon Musk would be compelled to finish his $44 billion agreement to purchase the firm, and the Tuesday increase signalled investors saw no new facts that may benefit Musk's effort to abandon the transaction.
While Grassley, a Republican, expressed concern about Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal's job security if the claims were accurate, several senators used the evidence to endorse legislation they had filed to limit Big Tech's market dominance, with some asking for urgent direct action against Twitter.
