A former employee of Twitter who had been accused of espionage for Saudi Arabia had been convicted guilty. Ahmad Abouammo, a resident of the United States, was the employee who was also found guilty by a jury of money laundering, fabricating records, and conspiracy to conduct wire fraud. He might spend up to 20 years behind bars.
Between 2014 and 2015, Abouammo worked for the company on media relationships in the Middle East. The Saudi government allegedly approached him and another employee of Twitter, Ali Alzabarah, and promised them cash and opulent things in exchange for their assistance in gathering personal data about Twitter users of interest. A corporate engineer named Alzabarah eluded justice by emigrating to Saudi Arabia. Twitter warned some users that their accounts had been targeted by state-sponsored actors in 2015 due to his association with the Saudi government.