What to watch for as Twitter whistleblower testifies to Congress |  Peiter "Mudge" Zatko had been head of security at Twitter for 15 months before chief executive Parag Agrawal fired him in January during a dispute about disclosures to the board. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) | | | When former Twitter whistleblower Peiter "Mudge" Zatko testifies to the Senate on Tuesday about allegations the company failed to secure its platform against hackers and other threats, both federal regulators and the world's richest man are likely to be watching closely. The former Twitter security chief's claims, detailed in an explosive complaint obtained by The Washington Post, have rocked the social media company and prompted swift scrutiny among lawmakers on Capitol Hill. But the biggest risk factor for Twitter may be how Zatko's allegations, which he's expected to discuss in greater detail while testifying under congressional subpoena, could deepen the company's legal woes. Here's what to watch for as lawmakers question the former Twitter executive: | Will Twitter draw the ire of the Federal Trade Commission? | | "Among the most serious accusations in the complaint [by Zatko] is that Twitter violated the terms of an 11-year-old settlement with the Federal Trade Commission by falsely claiming that it had a solid security plan," my colleagues Joseph Menn, Elizabeth Dwoskin and Cat Zakrzewski reported last month. Zatko's testimony this week may shape how regulators respond to his complaint against Twitter, which has been repeatedly dinged by the FTC over security lapses. The agency is already reviewing the allegations, two people familiar with the preliminary inquiry told The Post. | | | | | | | Through Project UP, Comcast is committing $1 billion to help ensure everyone has the skills, resources, and opportunities they need to participate and excel in a digital world. Here's how. | | | | ![Advertisement](https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/trackimp/N8667.1434.WASHINGTONPOSTDIGITAL/B28485868.345952602;dc_trk_aid=537414444;dc_trk_cid=168824643;ord=%%WP_CACHE_BUSTER%%;dc_lat=;dc_rdid=;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=;tfua=;gdpr=${GDPR};gdpr_consent=${GDPR_CONSENT_755};ltd=?" BORDER="0" HEIGHT="1" WIDTH="1" ALT="Advertisement">) | | | | | But it remains to be seen if regulators will slap a new fine or pursue structural changes from the company over its alleged security lapses. The FTC has issued some of the biggest penalties in its history against tech companies over privacy violations, including against Twitter. Twitter has pushed back on Zatko's allegations, with spokeswoman Rebecca Hahn saying that they are "riddled with inaccuracies" and that Zatko "now appears to be opportunistically seeking to inflict harm on Twitter, its customers, and its shareholders." Twitter agreed to pay the FTC $150 million in May to settle allegations it deceptively collected and used users' email addresses to deliver them digital ads, marking one of the agency's biggest privacy settlements in history. (The FTC slapped Facebook with a record-breaking $5 billion fine in 2019 over alleged data privacy violations.) The issue is top of mind for lawmakers. Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), whose panel will hear testimony from Zatko this week: | | Zatko's testimony could provide fresh ammunition for Elon Musk, who is locked in a contentious courtroom bout to pull out of his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter and whose legal team won an early battle allowing them to add the whistleblower's allegations in the case. Central to Musk's argument is his claim that Twitter has vastly undercounted the number of spam and bot accounts on its platform, and his legal team has seized on allegations in Zatko's complaint that the company prioritized user growth over reducing spam. "Executives stood to win individual bonuses of as much as $10 million tied to increases in daily users, the complaint asserts, and nothing explicitly for cutting spam," my colleagues reported. Hahn, the Twitter spokeswoman, said the company removes more than a million spam accounts every day, adding up to more than 300 million per year, and that it "fully stands by" its filings on the matter to federal regulators and its approach to fighting spam. | | Musk on Friday also claimed that he has no obligation to complete his Twitter purchase because of a newly disclosed $7.75 million severance payment the company made to Zatko. Musk's legal team argued it violated a clause in their deal that barred the company from making such payments that were not "in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice." | National security vulnerabilities under the microscope | | In his complaint, Zatko also alleged that the Indian government had forced Twitter to put one of its agents on its payroll, granting them access to user data during a turbulent political period in the country. The claim, which arrived just weeks after a former Twitter employee was convicted of spying for Saudi Arabia, sparked national security concerns on Capitol Hill. A slew of top lawmakers, including leaders on the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Intelligence Committee, have pledged to investigate the claims. | | Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), the third-ranking House Republican, vowed in an email to GOP lawmakers last month that they would "conduct a thorough and swift investigation into these allegations against Twitter," including claims of employees working for foreign interests, according to a copy reviewed by The Technology 202. | | |  | Our top tabs | | Top senator is working to change how the federal government buys software |  Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) would change how major software companies sell licenses to the U.S. government. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for The Washington Post) | | | The legislation being drafted by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Gary Peters (D-Mich.) would require federal agencies to shift from buying software licenses for a set number of employees to "unlimited" licenses, Bloomberg News's Leah Nylen and Dina Bass report. | | "In addition to requiring that each agency move to unlimited software licenses where possible, the legislation also proposes the administration make plans to adopt government-wide licenses for popular software as a move to further reduce costs and use its purchasing power to promote interoperability — the seamless transfer of data and information between systems," Nylen and Bass write. "The bill also asks agencies to identify limitations in software licenses on how programs can be used and to come up with ways to minimize such restrictions." Such a change would alter how companies like Microsoft and Oracle sell software to the federal government. The bill is still being finalized, an aide for Peters told Bloomberg News, and his office didn't comment on when Peters would be introducing it. | SpaceX appeals FCC decision to deny nearly $900 million in subsidies |  SpaceX rockets carry Starlink satellites into space. (John Raoux/AP) | | | In its appeal, SpaceX blasted the Federal Communications Commission's decision to block it from receiving more than $885 million in broadband subsidies, calling the action "flawed" and "grossly unfair," Reuters's Joey Roulette reports. When FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the decision last month, she said Starlink technology has "real promise" but couldn't meet the FCC's requirements. The decision is "flawed as a matter of both law and policy," SpaceX senior director for satellite policy David Goldman argued in the filing. "It fails legally because it contradicts the record — including SpaceX's and Starlink's proven capabilities — it contradicts the Commission's stated rules for the program, and it rests on unsupported conjecture and outside-the-record information apparently cherry-picked from somewhere on the internet," Goldman wrote. The FCC declined to comment to Reuters. | Snapchat sees a reversal of fortunes amid stock crash and layoffs |  Snapchat founder and CEO Evan Spiegel announced a camera-drone in July, but it's already been discontinued. (Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images) | | | Snapchat quietly grew for years. However, an economic downturn, changes in ad markets and TikTok's rise have thrown the company for a loop, Will Oremus and Naomi Nix report. The company last month laid off 20 percent of its workforce, and its stock has lost nearly three-fourths of its value since January. "No longer the sprightly upstart in the social media world, Snap faces a new challenge as it enters its second decade: how to build a mature, profitable business around an app that remains beloved by teens but largely ignored by older adults with disposable income," Will and Naomi write. "A company known for an optimistic culture and whimsical product initiatives, which prided itself on being the anti-Facebook, is now paring back its ambitions and clamping down on employees as it struggles to capitalize on those young eyeballs amid threats to its revenue model from Apple and TikTok," they write. | | |  | Rant and rave | | | Billy McFarland, who organized the infamous Fyre Festival, is out of jail after serving nearly four years for fraud charges — and he's thinking about getting into the tech industry, the New York Times reported. Journalist Sara Ashley O'Brien: | | Technology columnist Christopher Mims: | | Entrepreneur Evan Stewart: | | |  | Agency scanner | | | |  | Inside the industry | | | |  | Trending | | | |  | Mentions | | - Mozilla has hired Carlos Torres as its chief legal officer. Torres previously worked at Flashbots.
| | |  | Daybook | | - Christel Schaldemose, a member of the European Parliament who is rapporteur for the Digital Services Act, discusses the DSA at an event hosted by the German Marshall Fund and Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs today at noon.
- Twitter whistleblower Peiter "Mudge" Zatko testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday at 10 a.m.
- FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks speaks at a Consumer Technology Association event on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
- Current and former executives at social media companies testify before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday at 10 a.m.
- A Senate Judiciary Committee panel holds a hearing on protecting Americans' personal information from foreign adversaries on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
- FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel speaks at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Aerospace Summit on Wednesday.
- The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and the XR Association host the Augmented and Virtual Reality Policy Conference on Wednesday.
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