Gillian Keegan’s Twitter Account Changes Image To Elon Musk And Promotes Crypto In Apparent Hack | Political news

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The UK education secretary’s Twitter account appears to have been hacked, with his profile picture replaced with an image of Elon Musk and several posts promoting a cryptocurrency once backed by the billionaire.

While Gillian Keegan’s page still describes her as MP for Chichester and Secretary of State for Education, and has retained her banner image showcasing her work in the constituency, she has otherwise fallen into chaos.

The account responded to dozens of tweets promoting a fake event hosted by Musk’s companies Twitter and Tesla, saying there will be “a special giveaway for all of our fans and the crypto community.”

The link has the tagline: “Elon Musk – GET FREE DOGE, BTC & ETC!”

Image: Ms Keegan’s account replies to other accounts, with absurd Dogecoin hashtags Image: The links promote a fake event organized by Twitter and Tesla

This refers to Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that started as a joke in 2013 but has already skyrocketed in value by more than 18,000% when Musk regularly praised it.

Other tweets refer to anyone who owns the cryptocurrency as “a Dogecoin warrior fighting for the future.”

Based on the tweets, it appears Ms Keegan’s account was hacked at around 7.30pm on Christmas Day.

Keegan isn’t the first to fall foul of a Twitter hack

This is not the first time that high profile accounts have been hacked and flooded with crypto spam and images of Musk, with the British military falling foul earlier this year.

Musk has spoken publicly about his desire to crack down on spam, bots and other dangerous or fraudulent content since completing his $44bn (£38bn) takeover in October.

But major layoffs at the company have raised concerns that it is understaffed to do so.

The revelation of Ms Keegan’s account comes just two months after a phone belonging to former Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was allegedly hacked by Russia.

Agents suspected of working for Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly hacked into his personal phone during the Conservatives’ summer leadership campaign, accessing details of negotiations with key international allies.

Upgrade Secretary Michael Gove insisted the government takes these security issues “incredibly seriously”.

And last year it emerged Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab’s mobile numbers had been listed online for several years.

In both cases, the figures have been made public for more than a decade.

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