Twitter whistleblower testifies in front of Congress

Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, former security chief for Twitter, said Tuesday that privacy risks plague the social media platform, making it exploitable by everyone from teenagers to spies. Zatko said he chose to speak before Congress because Twitter’s leadership is misleading the public, regulators, lawmakers, and even its own board of directors. Twitter fired Zatko earlier this year. In July, he filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that Twitter had violated the terms of a 2011 Federal Trade Commission settlement, saying that it would beef up its privacy protections.

Are Zatko’s statements true? His claims are largely uncorroborated and lack substantial documentary support. Twitter has said he’s propagating a “false narrative.” Still, the testimony could be used by Elon Musk in his courtroom dispute with Twitter next month. The billionaire entrepreneur has been trying to back out of his agreement from earlier this year to purchase the social media giant for $44 billion.

Dig deeper: Read Mary Jackson’s report in WORLD magazine about how “fake reality” and peer contagion on the internet are leading teenage girls into transgenderism.