Last Updated on September 20, 2023
X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has allowed an apparent hack of Donald Trump Jr.’s account to go unchecked throughout the early phases of Wednesday morning, even as the account makes a phony death announcement regarding President Trump and issues threats toward foreign powers. The moderation failure comes despite the platform’s long-standing reputation for locking and banning accounts at a moment’s notice.
The phony posts to Donald Trump Jr.’s @DonaldJTrumpJr X account received millions of views on the platform on Wednesday morning. Among other things, the account falsely claimed that Don Jr.’s father, 45th President Trump, had passed away, and that Don Jr. would be taking his place on the 2024 Presidential ticket.
“I’m sad to announce, my father Donald Trump has passed away,” a post from the account read. “I will be running for president in 2024.”
Another post made to Don Jr.’s account called Joe Biden a “stupid ass n*gga”, while another one took a far more serious tone, claiming that nuclear-armed North Korea was about to fall under attack.
“This just in:” wrote the hacked Trump Jr. account. “North Korea is about to get smoked”.
Several other posts were made to the account in the time that it took for X to apparently secure it, though no explanation has been given thus far.
As of around 9:00 AM Eastern Time on Wednesday morning, the posts in question have been removed from Donald Trump Jr.’s account.
Notably, the time it took the platform to secure Trump Jr.’s account pales in comparison to the warp speed with which X moderators have kicked patriots and conservatives off of the platform for making posts at odds with Big Tech’s left-wing worldview.
X or its owner, Elon Musk, do not yet appear to have released an official statement on the Don Jr. hack, though his brother, Eric Trump, has made a post to the platform poking fun at the situation and confirming that his brother did fall victim to hackers.
This story is DEVELOPING. Stay with National File for updates as they become available.