Twitter Facing More Scrutiny After Hack of High-Profile Users
Twitter, among social media and tech companies under public and policymaker scrutiny, faced additional skepticism after a hack of high-profile accounts. Legislators from both parties expressed concerns Thursday. After those who had verified accounts couldn't post new tweets Wednesday, the problem seemed fixed later that day. The company didn't comment.
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This doesn’t bode well for November’s election, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., citing “repeated security lapses and failure to safeguard accounts” despite FTC enforcement: “Count this incident as a near miss or shot across the bow. It could have been much worse with different targets. So many security red flags are raised by this criminal attack that the culprits should be tracked down as quickly as possible.”
Twitter should brief Senate Commerce Committee staff by July 23 about Wednesday’s hack, Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., wrote to the company. “It cannot be overstated how troubling this incident is, both in its effects and in the apparent failure of Twitter’s internal controls to prevent it.”
The FCC and its employees didn't appear to have been hacked, according to our review of tweets and comments from agency representatives. Chairman Ajit Pai, who reacted after the overall episode (such as here), wasn't hacked, a spokesperson said. Pai's tweet was meant to be a commentary on verified users being "unable to post for a short time" during the incident, the spokesperson emailed Thursday.
Commissioner Brendan Carr also didn't have his account breached, he told us in media Q&A Thursday. The previous night, he retweeted a comment that said, "Thank goodness the Communications Act requires every FCC Commissioner to be fluent in semaphore or the agency would be unable to complete its official business right now."
The platform must “fully disclose” details of what happened, said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. “Imagine if these bad actors had a different intent to use powerful voices to spread disinformation to potentially interfere with our elections, disrupt the stock market, or upset our international relations,” Markey wrote. “That is why Twitter must fully disclose what happened and what it is doing to ensure this never happens again.”
Accounts for Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama were reportedly among those hacked. It was an apparent bitcoin scam.