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Twitter directed Mr. Abouammo to look into complaints about the pseudonymous Twitter account, a critic of the Saudi government known as Mujtahidd, Mr. Matthews said. The government had no evidence that Mr. Abouammo passed information about the account to Mr. Binasaker, he added.
“There’s a big difference between looking at an account and then providing information about it to someone,” Mr. Matthews said.
While Mr. Abouammo spoke with law enforcement officials who questioned him about his involvement with Mr. Binasaker, his former co-worker Mr. Alzabraah fled the country, Mr. Matthews said.
To illustrate the importance of Twitter to dissidents, the Justice Department presented testimony from Twitter executives.
“In part because Twitter doesn’t require you to use your real name, Twitter is frequently used by people engaged in dissent and political criticism,” said Yoel Roth, the head of safety and integrity at Twitter. “That’s a prominent use of our service by lots of people around the world.”
In 2014 and 2015, during Mr. Abouammo’s tenure at Twitter, about six million people in Saudi Arabia used the social media service, making up about 4 percent of its users worldwide, the Justice Department said.
The trial is expected to continue for about two weeks.
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