Posted on November 9, 2019

DOJ Charges 2 Former Twitter Employees for Allegedly Spying on Behalf of Saudi Arabia

Zachary Stieber, Epoch Times, November 7, 2019

Two former Twitter employees and a Saudi Arabian national were charged Nov. 6 with spying on some users of the social media platform that posted criticism of the Saudi Arabian government.

The three men—Ahmad Abouammo, Ali Alzabarah, and Ahmed Almutairi—provided information about the users to Saudi Arabia, according to the criminal complaint. “This information could have been used to identify and locate the Twitter users who published these posts,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.

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According to the complaint, the Twitter employees had access to “proprietary and confidential Twitter information,” including information about users such as their email addresses, phone numbers, and IP addresses.

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Alzabarah has a valid B1/B2 visa but hasn’t returned to the United States since.

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