Twitter whistleblower to testify at Senate Judiciary hearing next month

Twitter's former head of security, who filed a whistleblower disclosure about the company, will testify in a Senate hearing next month, the same day that Twitter shareholders are set to vote on whether to approve Elon Musk's takeover deal.

Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, whose disclosure was first reported on Tuesday by CNN and the Washington Post, will testify on September 13 before the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to a release from the committee Wednesday. He will discuss his allegations about Twitter, which include claims that the social media company suffers from serious security and privacy vulnerabilities that could threaten user data, investors and US national security. He also alleges that Twitter executives have misled regulators and the company's board.

"Mr. Zatko's allegations of widespread security failures and foreign state actor interference at Twitter raise serious concerns," said Sens. Dick Durbin and Chuck Grassley, the committee's chair and ranking Republican, respectively. "If these claims are accurate, they may show dangerous data privacy and security risks for Twitter users around the world."