BBC apologises after ‘hacked’ Twitter account falsely reports Donald Trump has been SHOT after his inauguration
The tweet claimed the US President had been injured after being blasted in the arm
THE BBC has been forced to apologise after tweeting that Donald Trump had been SHOT after his inauguration.
BBC Northampton broke the world exclusive at 11am that the US President had been blasted, saying: “Breaking News: President Trump is injured in arm by gunfire #Inauguration”.
They have since apologised and claimed they were hacked.
The tweet, which remained on the account for around 15 minutes, has since been deleted.
It came after Trump was signed in as the 45th President of the United States as violent protests broke out across the country.
Baffled Twitter users were quick to question BBC Northampton after the gaffe.
One asked: “Are you sure?”
Another said: “Guessing you’ve been hacked? Not seen this ANYWHERE else!”
After a short period of confusion, the BBC account deleted the tweet and sent out a clarification.
They said: “Message from OurMine: we detected unusual activity on this account, the account was hacked by someone and we are trying to fix the issue now.”
A BBC Spokesperson said: “BBC Northampton’s Twitter account was hacked this morning.
“The tweet was removed quickly, as soon as we realised the situation.
“We are investigating and taking steps to ensure this does not happen again.”
It isn’t the first time a BBC broadcaster mistakenly broadcast that a world leader was in danger.
In 2015, Ahmen Khawaja published a ‘breaking news’ alert about the Queen being rushed to hospital, before following it up with another tweet about the monarch dying.
The BBC were rehearsing what to do if a senior member of the royal family dies but the tweet sparked a global media frenzy.
They were later forced to apologise for the mix-up and branded it “deeply regrettable”.
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