Twitter's Parag Agrawal Suggested Bowing to Russia: Whistleblower

Twitter's Parag Agrawal Suggested Bowing to Russia

Twitter's Parag Agrawal, before he was CEO, suggested bowing to Russia's demands for increased censorship and surveillance to grow users there, ex-security chief alleges

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

• Parag Agrawal, before he was Twitter CEO, suggested ceding to Russia's censorship and surveillance demands.
• Ex-Twitter security chief Pieter Zatko made the claim in a filing to the SEC and other agencies.
• He said Agrawal's suggestion wasn't pursued but it was still a "cause for concern."

Twitter's former security chief filed a complaint in July alleging a slew of acts of misconduct at the company, as The Washington Post first reported.

One such act outlined in the complaint is now-CEO Parag Agrawal once suggesting to the ex-security chief, Pieter "Mudge" Zatko, that the company bow to Russia's demands around censorship and surveillance so that Twitter could grow its user base in the nation.

Agrawal was Twitter's chief technical officer from October 2017 to November 2021, according to his LinkedIn.

"Although Mr. Agrawal's suggestion was never pursued or implemented, the fact that Twitter's current CEO even suggested Twitter become complicit with the Putin regime is cause for concern about Twitter's effects on U.S. national security," the complaint reads. "This was a strong departure from the message Mr. Dorsey had converted to Mr. Zatko."

It also notes that the interaction was "notable" because Zatko at the time was already instructing teams to prepare for potential Russian attacks on Ukraine.

Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on Agrawal's suggestion.

Russia invaded Ukraine unprovoked in late February, an attack that continues to rage on with hundreds of Ukrainian civilians dead.

According to Politico, a handful of Russia-backed media outlets in March posted stories on Facebook and Twitter containing false claims that Ukrainian military forces were the ones who launched unprovoked assaults on Russian-allied troops.

Facebook began fact-checking and labeling content from the outlets, and its parent company, Meta, Tiktok, and Google's YouTube started blocking them for European users.

Russia responded by heavily restricting access to Twitter within its borders after military officials invade Ukraine unprovoked in late February. Facebook is outright banned in the country.