Tim Armstrong is probably having a bad day. The AOL CEO’s Twitter account has been hacked by an unknown individual, and posted spammy tweets at a rate of 20 a second. Here’s what it looked like.
At first glance, the links were for Baidu – a legitimate (and massive) Chinese search engine. Clicking them brought you to (what else) an advert for a weight loss supplement masquerading as a TMZ article.
Of course, this episode is hugely embarrassing for Armstrong, and people were quick to make light of the situation. Many of the jokes, especially those about AOL’s precarious financial situation, were pretty obvious.
Looks like @timarmstrongaol should consider two-factor authentication on his Twitter account
— Andrew Beaujon (@abeaujon) September 21, 2016
@timarmstrongaol thanks tim!
— Jon Passantino (@passantino) September 21, 2016
Hmm. @timarmstrongaol is either hacked or more desperate for revenue than we had been led to believe. pic.twitter.com/ZxjfZ9N9kG
— A Cranky Hedgehog (@jelenawoehr) September 21, 2016
The CEO of a major technology company losing control of his Twitter account is undeniably hilarious. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and his account was eventually taken down. It’s not immediately obvious whether this was done by Twitter or AOL.
We’re going to reach out to AOL to find out what happened. If we hear anything, we’ll update this post.
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