As if Twitter is not in enough trouble already, it has been tangled in another messy lawsuit. Former employees are suspected of providing a user's private data which led to him being captured by officials working for Saudi Arabia.
Twitter Data Leaked to Saudi Criminal Enterprise
The lawsuit states that the Saudi Criminal Enterprise has recruited two California-based employees from Twitter, who then took advantage of their access to Twitter's data to reveal information about the dissident, Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan.
Al-Sadhan was said to be among the estimated 6,000 users who used anonymous Twitter accounts, all of which were critical of the Saudi royal family, as mentioned in Gizmodo. The data provided by the employees led to the kidnapping and torture of the dissident.
In exchange for the services of the former Twitter employees, which provided the Saudi Arabian agents with IP addresses, birthdates, and other data, they were given $300,000 along with expensive gifts as a reward. Although it didn't end well for one of them.
Ahmad Abouammo, one of the recruits, has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison with charges of espionage. Twitter was accused of not having strong enough security to prevent the unauthorized acquisition of data, which led to one of its users being harmed.
Areej Al-Sadhan, sister of the captured dissident, expressed that Twitter gave her brother's identifying information to Saudi Arabia's government, which is a violation of its own terms and conditions, adding that it puts every Twitter user at risk.
She also claimed that the trial that transpired after her brother was kidnapped, tortured, and imprisoned was a "sham." Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan was sentenced to 20 years in prison for "criticizing Saudi repression" on Twitter through an anonymous account.
Reports also say that Areej Al-Sadhan has not seen her brother since 2021 and that she was not sure if he was still alive. She also claims that she has been stalked openly, threatened, and would even plan out her travels to determine which way would less likely get her captured.
Read Also: Saudi Arabian Woman is Sentenced to 34 Years in Prison for Tweeting in Favor of Women's Rights
How It Affects Twitter
If two former employees did provide private data to the Saudi Criminal Enterprise, then that not only violates the terms and conditions of the platform but raises questions about the safety and security of the users who use Twitter as well.
It's also not a good image to be tied to an enterprise that has allegedly, according to Fortune, surveilled, killed, tortured, disappeared, kidnapped, extorted, and threatened dissidents for criticizing the Suadi Royal Family.
Reports have also pointed out that due to the incident, Twitter has become part of the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to expand its surveillance network, which extends to Areej Al-Sadhan who lives in California and is a US citizen.
Executive director of the Freedom Initiative, Andrea J. Prasow expressed that it shouldn't require a federal lawsuit for a US citizen to protect herself from "Saudi Arabia's thugs," and that Areej Al-Sadhan was left with no other option.
Related: A Former Twitter Employee Has Been Found Guilty of Spying for Saudi Arabia
