US accuses former Twitter employees of spying for Saudi Arabia

US federal prosecutors have charged two former employees of the social media company, Twitter, of spying for Saudi Arabia.
According to CNN, prosecutors charged Ali al-Zubara, a Saudi national, a web engineer, and Ahmed Abu Amu, a US citizen, for exploiting their ability as Twitter employees to gather sensitive, non-public information about dissidents and opponents of the Saudi regime, according to the prosecution document. US Department of Justice.
According to the lawsuit, Al-Zubara has access to more than 6,000 Twitter users, and due to his role in the company, he is able to identify the IP addresses of the target users as well as their e-mail, phone numbers and a list of all their Twitter activities at any time.

A third Saudi national, Ahmed al-Mutairi, was also charged with working between Twitter employees and the Saudi government, according to the prosecution. According to the prosecution document, the men were given hundreds of thousands of dollars in addition to the luxury “Haplo” watch.
The network confirmed that it tried to communicate with the Saudi embassy in the US capital, Washington, for comment.
According to a complaint filed on Wednesday, two former Twitter employees and a third man from Saudi Arabia face US charges of spying for the kingdom by searching for user data and providing it to Saudi officials in return for rewards.

According to the complaint, Ali al-Zubara, Ahmad Abu Amo, who worked on Twitter, and Ahmed al-Mutairi, who was then employed by the Saudi royal family, face charges of working for the kingdom without registering as foreign agents, according to Reuters.
The complaint says that Abu Amo repeatedly entered the account of a prominent critic of the Saudi royal family in early 2015. On one occasion he was able to see the e-mail and phone number associated with the account. He also entered into the account of a second Saudi critic for information that makes it easier to identify him personally.
“This information could have been used to identify and locate Twitter users who posted these publications,” the Justice Department said in a press release.
Saudi Arabia, a key US ally against Iran, has faced intense Western criticism over its human rights record, including in last year’s murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and its involvement in the devastating war in Yemen.

Al-Mutairi was charged with acting as an intermediary between the Saudi government and Twitter employees. The ministry added that Abu Amo was arrested in Seattle while the other two were in Saudi Arabia.
According to the complaint, the two men received money and other rewards, including an expensive hour for information. Twitter said it was grateful to the FBI and the Justice Department.

“We recognize how bad people may be in trying to undermine our service,” she said in a statement. “We understand the dangers facing many who use Twitter to share their views with the world and hold those in power accountable.”