At Twitter whistleblower hearing, a prominent tech regulator faces scathing backlash

Twitter wasn't the only target of criticism when a whistleblower spoke at a contentious Senate session this week. Both liberal and conservative lawmakers frequently chastised federal authorities who were supposed to have been closely monitoring the corporation for years. "I'm concerned that for almost 10 years the Federal Trade Commission didn't know or didn't take strong enough action to ensure Twitter complied with the consent decree" it signed with the agency in 2011, said Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Senate Judiciary Committee's top Republican. "Congress should ... be mindful of the FTC's ability, or lack thereof, to successfully oversee these important issues." Committee chair Dick Durbin also signaled concerns about the FTC when he asked the whistleblower, Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, to grade US regulatory agencies' performance in light of his Twitter allegations.