Following a charge made by Zatko on Tuesday that Twitter had misled federal regulators about the true number of bots on its network, Agrawal made the following statement on Wednesday.
The former head of security of the firm, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, has come under fire from Twitter’s Indian-origin CEO Parag Agrawal, who alleges that his bogus assertions are “filled with contradictions and falsehoods, and presented without crucial context.”
Zatko, who was fired by the company in January of this year due to “poor performance,” claimed on Tuesday that Twitter had lied about the true number of bots on its platform and had misled federal regulators about the security of users’ data. This was the first time in a long time that Agrawal had addressed the bots controversy openly.
Agrawal said in an internal memo to the team, “There are press reports summarizing claims regarding Twitter’s privacy, security, and data protection protocols that were made by Mudge Zatko, a former Twitter executive who was fired in January 2022 for weak leadership and poor performance.”
“We are analyzing the publicly redacted allegations, but what we’ve seen so far is a misleading narrative that is rife with errors and mistakes and given without key context,” he said.
In addition, Twitter refuted Zatko’s claim that the Indian government ordered Twitter to employ a “government agent” and provide him access to users’ private information.
Given that Mudge was responsible for many areas of this work that he is now wrongly representing more than six months after his termination, Agrawal said it is frustrating and puzzling to read.
Given the current media attention on Twitter, Agrawal claimed that “we can anticipate that we will continue to see more headlines in the following days — this will just make our work tougher.”
Agrawal assured staff, “We will seek all avenues to protect our integrity as a business and clear the air.”
