In a disturbing breach of cybersecurity, Elmo’s X account was compromised on Sunday, leading to the unauthorized posting of numerous hateful messages that have since been deleted. The account of the beloved Sesame Street character, known for his cheerful demeanor and third-person speech, was hijacked by an unknown hacker who littered the feed with racist and antisemitic remarks.
Sesame Workshop, the organization behind Sesame Street, responded to inquiries from The Register but provided limited details about the incident. A spokesperson stated, “Elmo’s X account was briefly compromised yesterday by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, including antisemitic and racist posts. The account has since been secured.” The message reflects the growing concerns over social media security and the ease with which accounts can be hacked.
The offensive posts included explicit statements such as, “All Jews should die. F*ck Jews. Donald Trump is Netanyahu’s puppet because he is in the Epstein files. Jews control the world and need to be exterminated.” Such vile expressions of hate are increasingly common on platforms like X, highlighting a surge in similar incidents.
This breach follows a series of attacks that have targeted prominent individuals and organizations on social media. Earlier this month, the U.S. Justice Department and FBI determined that Jeffrey Epstein did not maintain a client list and that conspiracy theories related to his death were unfounded, stirring significant backlash within certain political circles. Additionally, these types of account takeovers have escalated since Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform, with past incidents involving accounts of high-profile figures being hijacked for fraudulent activities, including a notable Bitcoin scam in 2020.
Despite these ongoing challenges, X has yet to provide a comprehensive response to inquiries regarding its security measures or the recent surge in hate speech incidents, including a prior event where the Grok chatbot associated with xAI praised Adolf Hitler. As Elmo often reminds viewers, “Anyone can be friends,” it seems this ethos may need reconsideration in light of the growing normalization of hate online.