Edited by: TJVNews.com
Congressional lawmakers are probing allegations made by Twitter’s former chief of security in an explosive whistleblower complaint that includes claims of deception related to data security and privacy and misleading tech entrepreneur Elon Musk about the number of bots on the platform, as was reported by The Epoch Times.
Peiter Zatko, the whistleblower who served as Twitter’s head of security for about 14 months before being fired earlier this year, asserted in a disclosure obtained by The Epoch Times that Twitter’s security and privacy systems were grossly inadequate and that the company misled regulators, investors, and Musk about fake “spam” bots on the platform, said the August 24th report on The Epoch Times website.
The report indicated that while Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has called Zatko’s claims a “false narrative,” U.S. lawmakers appear determined to make up their own minds and are investigating.
Moreover, on Wednesday it was reported by the AP that U.S. securities regulators are questioning Twitter about how it calculates the number of fake accounts on its platform.
The Securities and Exchange Commission in June asked the company about the methodology for calculating the false or spam accounts “and the underlying judgments and assumptions used by management,” as was reported by the AP.
The agency’s Division of Corporation Finance made the request in a June 15 letter, shortly before Tesla CEO Elon Musk raised the issue as grounds to back out of a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion.
Such questions can be routine, and it wasn’t clear whether the SEC has opened a formal investigation into Twitter’s fake accounts, according to the AP report. Messages were left Wednesday seeking comment from the agency and Twitter by the AP.
In terms of legislative involvement, in a statement issued to the media, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, said that he is looking into Zatko’s allegations.
“The whistleblower’s allegations of widespread security failures at Twitter, willful misrepresentations by top executives to government agencies, and penetration of the company by foreign intelligence raise serious concerns,” he said, according to The Epoch Times report.
“As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I will continue investigating this issue and take further steps as needed to get to the bottom of these alarming allegations,” he said, adding that if the whistleblower’s claims are accurate, there may be “dangerous” risks for Twitter users in terms of data privacy and security.
The Epoch Times also reported that Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) sent a letter (pdf) to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice expressing “significant concerns” about the whistleblower’s allegations.
“According to Peiter Zatko, Twitter’s former head of security, Twitter has systematically and repeatedly failed to take basic security measures to protect its user data and has misled investors, regulators, and the public about the strength of its security systems,” Markey said in a statement.
Markey added that Zatko’s allegations suggest that Twitter has again “flagrantly violated” its consent decree with the FTC, just months after the company agreed to pay a $150 million penalty for failing to keep Twitter users’ data secure, as was reported by The Epoch Times.
“I strongly urge the federal government to investigate Zatko’s claims and, if necessary, take strong and swift action against Twitter to ensure Twitter user data is properly protected,” the senator wrote.
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement that he was “carefully reviewing this whistleblower disclosure and assessing next steps,” according to the Epoch Times report.
“These allegations are alarming and reaffirm the need to pass my comprehensive privacy legislation to protect Americans’ online data,” Pallone added, referring to the American Data Privacy and Protection Act that he co-sponsored.
It is clear that Twitter, (like other social media outlets that are operated under a political agenda), allows exclusive voices to be broadcast that are congruent with their doctrine of liberalism and far left perspectives in this “woke, progressive” era. For anyone else, and that means for any individual, organization, business, etc, that dares to speak their own truth and express their own perspectives, (which in many cases have absolutely nothing in common with that of the top brass at Twitter who set policy), then they are summarily silenced in the most undemocratic way possible.
While many Americans had serious issues with former President Donald Trump, it was the “deep state” lurking in the background at Twitter that made the decision to ban him and permanently suspend his account. We would imagine that the folks at Twitter have let all the so-called power and influence that they wield go to their heads. In Trump’s case, they decided that because he challenged the 2020 presidential election results and said that they were rigged, that he had to be removed from Twitter and his following of tens of millions of people. Who made Twitter the ultimate arbiter of what kind of speech is permitted to be heard?
And let’s not forget the countless other individuals, businesses, organizations, etc that have been ruined by Twitter’s policy of shadow banning. Followers have been lost and as a result the aforementioned’s messages are not available to those who wish to hear them.
In the case of The Jewish Voice, Twitter swooped down from their hypocritical perch and launched a silencing campaign that was aimed at destroying any vestige of freedom of speech that is left on social media. The Jewish Voice once had hundreds of thousands of followers across the length and breadth of the globe; only to be decimated by Twitter for speaking the truth and informing readers on perspectives that stand in stark opposition to that of Twitter.
The preservation of democratic principles and the cost of true freedom and liberty are at stake here and for all those who embrace the true meaning of being an American citizen, the time is long overdue to challenge the policies of Twitter.
