NEW DELHI: Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress party (TMC) announced on Tuesday morning that its official Twitter account had been hacked. The name of the All India Trinamool Congress’ official Twitter account has been changed to ‘Yuga Labs’. The display picture of the party’s account was changed as well.
While the social media account had been restored about 14 hours later, the party officially registered a complaint with the cyber security cell of the Kolkata Police, party sources said.
It was around 2 am on Tuesday that the party found out about its Twitter handle having been compromised. The profile picture on the account was changed from the TMC party symbol to the logo of Yuga Labs, a US-based blockchain technology company.
In a tweet, TMC’s national spokesperson and leader in Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien said, the party is in touch with Twitter to address the issue. “The official Twitter handle of the All India Trinamool Congress has been compromised. We are in touch with officials from Twitter who are working to rectify the issue. They have assured us of prompt action,” he said, at 11 am on Tuesday.
So far, nothing has been posted by the hackers from the account.
Yuga Labs is known to be a blockchain technology company based in the US that develops NFTs and digital collectibles. It also specializes in cryptocurrency and digital media.
Ever since the account was hacked, there have been tweets promoting NFT collections made by Yuga Labs. Meanwhile, party sources told TOI, adding that an investigation is on to find out what really happened and who is responsible for the hack.
Interestingly, the TMC’s Twitter account has been hacked at a time when the party, having ventured beyond its home turf in West Bengal, contested seats in the north eastern states of Tripura and Meghalaya assembly polls. The elections were completed on Monday.
Earlier other social media accounts of political parties have also been hacked. For instance, the official Twitter account of YSR Congress was hacked in December last year.