India forced Twitter to put ‘agent’ on payroll: Ex-Twitter executive

A former senior Twitter executive has alleged that the Indian government “forced” the social media company to hire one or more individuals who were “government agents” and had access to vast amounts of the platform’s user data, according to a whistleblower disclosure with US regulators. The allegations come amid the company’s legal challenge with the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) over its content blocking orders.

“The company did not in fact disclose to users that it was believed by the executive team that the Indian government had succeeded in placing agents on the company payroll,” Peiter ‘Mudge’ Zatko, former head of safety at Twitter, said in his complaint filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).