Former Twitter employees accused of spying on Saudi dissidents using the social media platform

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday announced charges against two former Twitter employees and a Saudi Arabian national, accusing them of working for the Saudi government to gather information about the kingdom's critics.<br><br>Ali Alzabarah and Ahmad Abouammo, who used to work in Twitter's San Francisco office, and Saudi national Ahmed Almutairi were charged with acting as agents of Saudi Arabia without registering with the U.S. government.<br><br>Alzabarah, a Saudi native, was hired by Twitter as an engineer in 2013. A year later, he was convinced by the Saudi government to help them identify Twitter accounts critical of the government, according to the indictment. He left Twitter in 2015 after the company discovered his access of user accounts and notified law enforcement.<br><br>Prosecutors say Alzabarah used his access to locate and gather data on dissidents of the Saudi government. He was paid $300,000 and given a expensive watch, the indictment said.<br><br>Abouammo, a U.S. citizen, was also approached by the Saudi government in 2014. According to the indictment, he accessed the data of three Twitter users who were critical of the Saudi government without a legitimate work reason. He left Twitter in 2015.<br><br>Almutairi is accused of overseeing the collection of data on dissidents by the two former Twitter employees. He is also a friend of Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman.<br><br>The three men were charged with acting as an agent of a foreign government without notification of the attorney general, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, international money laundering and falsifying records in a federal investigation. The two former Twitter employees were also charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud, the indictment said.<br><br>"The criminal complaint unsealed today alleges that Saudi agents mined Twitter's internal systems for personal information about known political activists who have spoken out against the Saudi government," said Colin Stretch, Twitter's general counsel. "We limit access to sensitive account information to a limited group of trained and vetted employees."<br><br>The indictment said that Alzabarah started working at Twitter in February 2013 in San Francisco. He left in December 2015, according to the indictment. Abouammo started at Twitter in 2013 and left in 2015.