Donald Trump Jr.’s social media account announced the death of ex-President Donald Trump in a fake post after hackers took over his profile.
The former president’s son often uses X to share his opinions as well as political stories, however, followers probably weren’t prepared for the latest string of now-deleted posts.
On Wednesday, Trump Jr.’s X account - formerly known as Twitter - fired off a slew of fake tweets that took aim at everyone from Trump to President Joe Biden, Jeffrey Epstein and influencer Richard Heart.
One of the fake messages read: “I’m sad to announce, my father Donald Trump has passed away. I will be running for president in 2024.”
Other incendiary tweets included one saying: “North Korea is about to get smoked,” as well as another that spoke about “some interesting messages with Jeffrey Epstein.”
It appears that the social media breach was quickly shut down as the tweets were swiftly deleted. A spokesperson for Donald Trump also confirmed the hack, adding on X: “Don’s account has been hacked.”
Trump Snr. also confirmed that he was very much alive when he shared a post on Truth Social shortly after the fake tweet was posted.
Trump Jr. hasn’t addressed the hack and has instead continued to share posts related to various political stories.
Trump’s brother, Eric, later took to social media to joke: “What was @donaldtrumpjr password? Don2024?”
Ever since Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, the SpaceX boss has been trying to improve the struggling platform. One of his latest efforts was to crack down on bots and fake accounts after saying it was one of Twitter’s biggest problems.
Other things that have been introduced since Musk took over the platform included an automated poo emoji sent to journalists who try to contact Twitter’s press department.
Trump Jr.’s dad has also only just returned to X after he was banned from Twitter in 2021 “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”. Musk lifted the ban, but Trump has so far stayed true to his Truth Social platform instead.
Last month, Trump broke his Twitter silence by re-posting his mugshot for his 87 million followers. He hasn’t used the platform since.
