Hackers compromise Twitter CEO’s account, send racist tweets to 4m followers

The account of Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey was compromised on Friday by hackers who sent public tweets and retweets including racial slurs and curse words to his four million followers on the platform.

According to a statement by the social media platform, the phone number associated with his account was compromised due to a security oversight by the mobile provider, before Twitter later secured the account.

“This allowed an unauthorized person to compose and send tweets via text message from the phone number. That issue is now resolved,” the company said, adding separately that there was no indication that Twitter’s systems had been compromised.

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One of the tweets from the hacked account said Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was innocent, while others contained derogatory comments about black people and Jews.

There was also a tweet suggesting there was a bomb at Twitter’s headquarters.

The account posted a hashtag that was used during the apparent hacks of several YouTube stars last week.

The hack comes at a time when social media companies are facing scrutiny over management of their networks, privacy issues and security of user data.

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