Over the weekend IHOP’s Twitter account was reportedly hacked after the pancake chain posted an anti-Hillary Clinton retweet.
Several media outlets reported that the IHOP retweet said “Also good morning to everyone except Americans who don’t want to accept the simple fact that Hillary Clinton had a major garbage campaign.”
By Sunday, IHOP explained that their account had been hacked. In a statement, the company described what took place, “At the core of the IHOP brand is a desire to bring people together and a commitment to creating a warm and welcoming environment for guests and fans everywhere, both in our restaurants and online.”
IHOP added, “After a thorough investigation, we have confirmed that the IHOP Twitter account was hacked this morning. The retweeted post in question was immediately removed, and we have taken the necessary steps to ensure the security and integrity of our social media accounts. We appreciate our fans bringing this to our attention and recognizing that this is not normal content shared by IHOP.”
IHOP is not the first company to get hacked and will most likely not going to be the last. Last December, hackers were able to take over Netflix’s Twitter account. The hacking organization OurMine made headlines after tweeting from Netflix’s hacked account: “World security is ****. We are here to prove this :)”. Netflix social media team quickly removed the tweet.
But, companies are not the only groups targeted by hackers. Celebrities and executives have also become victims to hackers. In fact, in 2016 both Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s social media accounts were both hacked. In addition, hackers also sparked controversy after launching a Britney Spears death hoax by hacking Sony Music’s Twitter account. “britney spears is dead by accident! we will tell you more soon #RIPBritney,” Sony Music Global’s hacked account tweeted. Britney Spears’ reps would later confirm that Spears was still alive and well.