‘#TwitterHack’ affects media outlets, journalists

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After the Twitter accounts of prominent people and companies were hacked and began posting bitcoin spam July 15, 2020, the social media platform began locking down more accounts July 15, 2020, including those of journalists and media personalities.

In a series of tweets, Twitter said it “limited functionality” for “all verified accounts” as a precaution.

While the company did not clarify in its public statement, many verified account holders reported being unable to post tweets for an extended period of time.

Twitter said there was no evidence other or all verified accounts had been compromised but made the move out of an abundance of caution.

“This was disruptive, but it was an important step to reduce risk,” one of the tweets read, also noting that, at the time of the statement, around 10:38 p.m. eastern, “most functionality” had been restored.

That timeline appears to coincidence with a flood of tweets from verified account holders celebrating their ability to post again.

Media and TV personalities, journalists and news sites were one group that was affected heavily by locking down all verified accounts thanks to the high number of them who qualify for the blue checkmark that indicates a verified account.

Notably, many accounts were still locked when the news broke that Donald Trump’s shakeup of his campaign team had broken. \

In fact, Trump made the announcement on his Facebook page at 8:31 p.m. eastern — with it coming to Twitter later.

It is not immediately clear if Trump had intended to post the longer, more detailed post on Facebook first and then turn to Twitter, which is notably one of his favorite platforms.

Twitter uses the checkmark to help users distinguish between fake, bot or even parody accounts and the real, official accounts of prominent individuals and companies.