Hackers broke into the X account of Sesame Road character Elmo and posted antisemitic and racist messages, the makers of the kids’s TV present stated.
The posts, which have been deleted, referred to as for violence in opposition to Jews, insulted US President Donald Trump and demanded the discharge of presidency recordsdata on accused intercourse trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged clientele.
Elmo, a cheerful purple muppet, has greater than 650,000 followers on X.
Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind Sesame Road, stated that an unidentified hacker was behind the posts.
“Elmo’s X account was briefly compromised yesterday by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, together with antisemitic and racist posts,” a spokesperson informed AFP in an announcement.
“The account has since been secured,” they added.
X got here beneath scrutiny final week when the account of the Grok chatbot developed by billionaire Elon Musk’s firm xAI produced content material with antisemitic tropes. The posts had been subsequently eliminated and referred to as “inappropriate” by Grok’s X account.
Since Musk purchased what was then often known as Twitter in 2022, he has in the reduction of on moderation. Extremist content material has elevated, inflicting some advertisers to tug away from the platform.
