The Chinese embassy in Britain said on Wednesday that the Twitter account of Ambassador Liu Xiaoming was hacked. The ambassador appears to have “liked” a tweet with pornographic content.
Twitter, like most popular social media platforms in other countries, is banned in China, while Chinese social media such as Weibo (China's version of Twitter) avoids reporting on controversial issues to avoid conflict with the authorities. However, Chinese officials, particularly in the Foreign Ministry, have recently resorted to Twitter and other social media to support China, belittle critics, and counter criticism on human rights, foreign policy, and other issues.
More specifically, the ambassador appears to have “liked” a tweet from his Twitter account, which depicted a sexual act in a video . He also “liked” a tweet criticizing the Chinese Communist Party and China’s mass detention of Uighur Muslims. The Chinese embassy in Britain announced that measures would be taken, while demanding that Twitter launch an investigation into this case, which China describes as “horrific.”
The “likes” that the Chinese ambassador appears to have made remained active on Twitter for about an hour before being removed. A large number of Twitter users have commented on the incident.
Liu usually posts news leaked from Chinese media that portray China in a positive light. During an interview with the BBC in July, Liu denied that human rights atrocities were being committed in Xinjiang, despite the fact that drone showing such acts.
Several hours after the hack of the Chinese ambassador's Twitter account, a spokesperson for the London embassy issued a statement condemning the hack and attributing it to cybercriminals operating against China.
The statement said: “Recently, some anti-China elements viciously attacked Twitter account and used contemptuous methods to deceive the public. The Chinese embassy strongly condemns this heinous behavior.” The embassy stressed that it had reported the alleged hack to Twitter and urged the company to conduct thorough investigations and handle the matter seriously. The statement also said: “The embassy reserves the right to take further action and hopes that the public will not believe or spread such rumors.”
The alleged hack victim, Liu Xiaoming, retweeted the embassy's tweet to his more than 85,000 followers. So far, no specific criminal gang has claimed responsibility for the alleged hack.
