Twitter tattle
Editorial 

Published September 1, 2022 

TWITTER, the social media platform loved and used by journalists, dissidents and activists worldwide, may in fact be quite unsafe for them if recent revelations made by the company’s former security chief Peiter Zatko are to be believed. One allegation in particular has prompted considerable concern in the Pakistani security establishment: the Indian government apparently infiltrated Twitter’s security system through an operative. Mr Zatko believes this agent very likely accessed sensitive user data because of Twitter’s weak security infrastructure, which is reportedly plagued by obsolete servers and vulnerable software. Mr Zatko also claimed that Twitter’s executive team knew “that the Indian government had succeeded in placing agents on the company payroll”, but never informed users. According to another company source, it is widely believed that the Indian government had previously also interfered or attempted to interfere in Twitter’s internal workings.

Indian attempts at espionage using Twitter’s systems have far more serious implications if viewed as a whole with the other revelations made by Mr Zatko. According to the former hacker, Twitter’s internal controls are allegedly so weak that sensitive information can easily be accessed by rogue elements working for other countries. In fact, just earlier this month, a former manager employed by Twitter, Ahmad Abuammo, was convicted by a US court on six criminal counts for spying for Saudi Arabia, including acting as an agent for the country and trying to disguise a payment from an official with links to Saudi Arabia’s royal family. These developments paint a startling picture for those who frequently use the platform for communication and information. Clearly, anyone who can be targeted for expressing views that run contrary to powerful interests should be wary. Twitter collects quite a lot of personal information from people who have accounts on the microblogging platform, and this information can easily be misused if it falls in the wrong hands. When viewed in hindsight, attempts to infiltrate social media companies, the recent blockage of Twitter handles operated by Pakistani diplomatic missions, the systematic erasure from social media of critical voices from occupied Kashmir as well as an ongoing disinformation campaign functioning on the back of social media and aimed at discrediting Pakistan present a sinister picture of how Indian authorities intend to misuse social media for their ends. Twitter has a responsibility to satisfy Pakistani authorities and demonstrate that it remains committed to the safety of the people who use its service.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2022