The Twitter accounts of United Press International and the New York Post appeared to have been hacked Friday afternoon after the accounts began tweeting about the breakout of “World War III.”
In identical tweets, the accounts @UPI, @NYPost and @NYPostBiz began sending out news alerts that a Chinese military ship had fired at a US vessel and that the pope had declared “World War III has begun.”
As of Friday afternoon, the New York Post accounts had deleted the hacked tweets, while UPI’s remain published.
BREAKING: Chinese anti-ship missile fired at USS George Washington.
— UPI.com (@UPI) January 16, 2015
BREAKING: Chinese anti-ship missile fired at USS George Washington.
— UPI.com (@UPI) January 16, 2015
Pope: “World War III has begun” pic.twitter.com/Jgfb8KZvgc
— UPI.com (@UPI) January 16, 2015