A few minutes ago, The Onion's official Twitter account let loose a series of tweets that suggested it had been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army, the same outfit responsible for taking down the Associated Press'
Here are the tweets, which seem very similar to other tweets by the Syrian Electronic Army, a group of angry nerds who support Assad's regime by hacking twitter accounts and defacing websites with pro-Assad messages:
Israel denies forging new alliance with Al Qaeda: "We were friends all along, so it can't be new" - IDF Spokesperson onion.com/LZuAvY
— The Onion (@TheOnion) May 6, 2013
UN's Ban Ki Moon condemns Syria for being struck by israel: "It was in the way of Jewish missiles" onion.com/104PKAs
— The Onion (@TheOnion) May 6, 2013
Poland todouble flights from the Middle East, anticipating Israeli mass exodus."The bagel bakery ovens are working over time" ~ Larry
— The Onion (@TheOnion) May 6, 2013
BREAKING: #TheOnion readership mass confusion as Syrian Electronic Army takes over. All demand a permanent column. twitter.com/TheOnion/statu…
— The Onion (@TheOnion) May 6, 2013
UN retracts report of Syrian chemical weapon use: "Lab tests confirm it is Jihadi body odor"
— The Onion (@TheOnion) May 6, 2013
We only wish this one was a joke, but this is what we have to live through in #Syria. twitter.com/TheOnion/statu…
— The Onion (@TheOnion) May 6, 2013
The unfunniness of the jokes suggests that this is not The Onion. Of course it could just be the onion doing a spot-on impression of an anti-Isareli hacker. But according to Business Insider's Adam Taylor, a hacker named Th3 Pro, one of the SEA's leaders, sent along a screenshot to prove he was behind the hack.
Syrian hacker Th3 Pr0 says that SEA is behind @theonion attack, sends this screenshot twitter.com/mradamtaylor/s…
— Adam Taylor (@mradamtaylor) May 6, 2013
If The Onion truly was hacked, then that leaves about three media organizations that haven't been taken over by Syrian hackers. Maybe everyone should just find a new social media platform.