“My Twitter account got hacked” is the new “The dog ate my homework”. Social media accounts have a habit of getting hacked just before a controversial post. In some cases, almost magically, they are also instantly restored after the tweet. And sometimes, the ‘mischievous’ tweets get deleted before the ‘victim’ gets back access to the account. Recently, in a shocking attempt of victim shaming, the twitter handle of BJP spokesperson, Shaina NC posted a misleading photograph of the victim of the Chandigarh stalking incident. As the outrage against the post built up, Shaina claimed that her account was hacked. Requests to substantiate the claim with a copy of the restoration email from twitter went unanswered.
Just gt access back to my account; some mischievous folks had hacked the account.
Please ignore any activity on my account of past few hours— ShainaNC (@ShainaNC) August 7, 2017
Please post a screenshot of the email sent by Twitter after you recovered your supposedly hacked account. https://t.co/2t0iRmrb34
— Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) August 7, 2017
Shaina is not alone when it comes to claims of account being hacked. Alt News has compiled an interesting list of some other notable instances.
Case 1
Much earlier in 2013, BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi’s account mysteriously tweeted the last name of the victim of the sexual assault case involving former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal.
As reported by DNA, Lekhi initially admitted her mistake and apologized but later denied her statement. She claimed her account was hacked.
Case 2
In April 2017, the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia’s twitter account retweeted a few tweets calling Anna Hazare a BJP agent and a fraud. Hazare had earlier blamed Arvind Kejriwal for the poor performance of the Aam Admi Party in the Delhi civic polls.
It was a unique “hacking” situation where Sisodia had access to his account and was able to tweet that his account was hacked but was unable to delete the offensive tweets.
My account hacked. Someone retweeting anti Anna Hazare messages from account. Trying to delete them, not even getting deleted. 1/N
— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) April 29, 2017
Pls don't believe them. I have greatest respect for Anna ji. Can never say such things against him. Pls don't believe them. 2/N
— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) April 29, 2017
Case 3
Those who have been around on twitter for long enough know of this famous case where the twitter handle of the veteran right wing journalist Kanchan Gupta posted a porn link.
#RightWing #Journalist posted #Porn link no doubt real news is not getting due attention #Shame on @KanchanGupta pic.twitter.com/ZiQZ1iqqiW
— Wolverine (@quuuu2) August 16, 2014
Of course everyone believed Kanchan Gupta that it was not him but twitter doing “amazing things” with his account. It is not always the hacker, you see.
Case 4
The twitter onslaught against Arun Jaitley by BJP MP Kirti Azad’s account went viral in December 2015. The handle tweeted, “I was visited at home by so many agencies to take precaution against threat to my life. Dear @arunjaitley darta nahin hoon napunsako se.”
Just as speculation about the rift between the two went viral, came the anticlimax. Kirti Azad claimed his account was hacked.
My A/C is hacked statement on @arunjaitley as napunsak is not my tweet
— Kirti Azad (@KirtiAzadMP) December 21, 2015
Case 5
Cricketer Suresh Raina also had a similar moment with an unsportsmanlike tweet. A tweet from Raina’s account mocked the Pakistan cricket team after they were ousted from the tournament after losing a semi-final against Sri Lanka: “Ek do din late gaye ghar !!!! Woh bhi besharam ki tarah Gaye… Bye bye Pakistan!!!!”
After it was condemned widely on Twitter, Raina deleted the tweet and blamed his nephew.
Smart phones r dangerous. Discovered it last night after my nephew posted random tweets. I'm a sportsman and would never disrespect.
— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) October 5, 2012
Case 6
More recently, just two weeks ago, the Twitter handle of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) retweeted an anti-Congress post.
Many similar cases have surfaced in recent times when the social media team member handling the account mistakenly tweets from the official government handle instead of his personal account. In this case however, IGIA claimed they were hacked. The airport apologized and claimed that its handle was “subjected to a hacker attack”. Interestingly, like in the case of Shaina NC, the alleged “hacker” tweeted only one inappropriate post which was removed and the account recovered, all in a matter of minutes.
Our clarification. pic.twitter.com/yDjAxG1hAO
— Delhi Airport (@Delhi_Airport) July 25, 2017
We hope you enjoyed the collection. No, we are not insinuating anyone of any wrongdoing. Dogs are known to have eaten homework. Nephews and interns are known to have tweeted from people’s accounts. Twitter is known to have done amazing things. It is not impossible.
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