August 30, 2022 – The Foreign Office has released a statement in response to the recent revelations that India forced Twitter to employ a government agent, who likely had access to sensitive user data.
The statement says that “Pakistan is seriously concerned” by the reports about the alleged infiltration of Twitter’s security by the Indian government. The matter came up during Twitter’s briefing to India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology where legal depositions made in the US by a former Twitter employee were also discussed, it added.
Last week, a former Twitter security chief, Peiter Zatko, turned whistleblower and accused Twitter executives of violating the company’s commitments to its users by granting an Indian government agent unsupervised access to sensitive information systems. He levelled alarming allegations regarding the company’s privacy policies and claimed that executives misled the users, investors, board members, and government officials about the vulnerabilities in its security infrastructure. He had filed a complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in July.
The Foreign Office also raised concerns about the Twitter accounts, including those belonging to Pakistan embassies in several locations, that were blocked by India in June.
“Regrettably, a large number of Twitter handles, particularly those belonging to Kashmiri political leaders and media persons, continue to remain blocked due to India’s frivolous legal objections,” it said. “Only last month, Pakistan also registered its strong protest with the Indian government over the blocking of access to content of several Twitter handles of Pakistan’s diplomatic missions as well as the national broadcaster Radio Pakistan.”
The Foreign Office called India’s actions a not only a violation of international standards and to be against the flow of information, but also termed them reflective of “shrinking space for pluralistic voices and curbing fundamental freedoms in India”.
