Prosecutors said Ahmad Abouammo conveyed sensitive information from the company's systems to help Saudi officials identify and locate Twitter users of interest.

The latest crackdowns on state-backed social media campaigns came as tech companies step up efforts to tackle misinformation on their services ahead of next year's U.S. presidential elections.

Allegations that two former Twitter employees spied on opponents of the Saudi government at its behest have raised nagging questions about how to detect and halt the so-called insider threats.