Ahmad Abouammo worked as a manager at Twitter, helping prominent figures in the Middle East and North Africa promote their accounts. He took advantage of his position to access the email addresses, phone numbers and birth dates of users critical of the Saudi government.
Abouammo passed the information on to Saudi officials between November 2014 and May 2015. In return, he is said to have received rewards several times.
The US government accuses him of collaborating with an aide to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. Abouammo claims that he was just doing his job and that Twitter needs to better protect personal data.
The amount of punishment Abouammo will receive has yet to be determined. He faces a prison sentence of ten to twenty years. Two other people, including another former Twitter employee, are also suspected of espionage. They are still wanted by the US government.