Ex-Twitter employee convicted of spying for Saudi Arabian government!

A jury in San Francisco announced on Tuesday that they would be dishing out a minimum of 10 years in prison fo former Twitter employee Ahmad Abouammo.

According to The Verge, Abouammo used to work for Twitter as a media partnerships manager, and one of the things he was responsible for was to create partnerships and promote content on the platform for prominent figures in the Middle East and across northern Africa.

It was then leaked that he was using his position to record the email addresses and names of people who were criticising the Saudi Arabian government, and sharing this information with them in a period between November 2014 and May 2015, in exchange for a number of gifts.

Abouammo has responded saying that Twitter should have done more to secure their user’s data, and failed in their policies, this is what allowed him access to this data. He maintains that whilst in role he was only “doing his job”.

He was charged initially in 2019, and in 2020 the charges were aimed at 3 people in total, but Abouammo was the only one who was caught by authorities.

He has been convicted of espionage, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, launder money, and falsify records.

Image: The Verge