Former Twitter employee convicted of spying for Saudi Arabia

Former employee was accused of gathering private data on Twitter users critical of the Saudi regime

A former Twitter employee accused of spying for Saudi Arabia has been convicted by a San Francisco federal court.

Ahmad Abouammo, a dual US-Lebanese citizen and a former media partnership manager for Twitter’s Middle East region, was found guilty on Tuesday on six counts, including money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The former Twitter employee was arrested in Seattle on 5 November 2019 and charged with acting as an agent of Saudi Arabia without registering with the US government, making this the first time Saudi Arabia has been accused of spying in the US, according to the Associated Press.