Hacking on Fox News Twitter reports Obama's death

(AP) -- Hackers broke into Fox's political Twitter account early Monday, posting updates saying President Barack Obama had been assassinated.

A series of six tweets coming from the FoxNewsPolitics account reported that Obama had been shot to death in Iowa and the shooter was unknown.

In a statement posted on its website later Monday morning, Fox News called the tweets "malicious" and "false." It said the hacking is being investigated.

"We will be requesting a detailed investigation from Twitter about how this occurred, and measures to prevent future unauthorized access into FoxNews.com accounts," said Jeff Misenti, vice president and general manager of Fox News Digital.

Obama plans to spend the Independence Day holiday at a barbecue at the White House with military families and administration staffers.

Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie says the agency wouldn't comment on the tweets.

Fox's political Twitter account has more than 34,000 followers.

©2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Citation: Hacking on Fox News Twitter reports Obama's death (2011, July 4) retrieved 28 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2011-07-fox-news-political-twitter-account.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Obama to personally tweet from Twitter account

0 shares

Feedback to editors