LONDON (AP) — Supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad hijacked the Twitter accounts of the BBC’s weather and Arabic services on Thursday and posted messages that were by turns political, anti-Semitic and comical.
The BBC confirmed that several accounts had been hacked, saying that it is “actively working” on the issues and expects them to be resolved shortly.
The hackers identified themselves as members of the Syrian Electronic Army, a group that has carried out a string of web attacks against targets such as Al-Jazeera, which it sees as sympathetic to Syria’s rebels.
The BBC Weather, BBC Arabic and BBC Radio Ulster accounts appear to have been the targets.
Among the messages posted on the BBC Weather Twitter account — which has 59,600 followers — were “Long Live Syria Al-Assad” and “Saudi weather station down due to head-on collision with camel.”
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less