A reported rogue employee was behind the “hacking” of the New York Post’s website and Twitter profile on Thursday. According to Deadline, a spokesperson for the paper revealed that the employee had been fired.
“The New York Post’s investigation indicates that the unauthorized conduct was committed by an employee, and the employee has been terminated,” the statement read, according to Deadline. “This morning, we immediately removed the vile and reprehensible content from our website and social media accounts.”
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Before they were deleted, the alleged hacker had posted headlines and tweets that were salacious beyond what is usually featured in the Post. A selection of the headlines included references to sexual assault, violence against migrants, racist stereotypes, and assassination against Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Hunter Biden and President Joe Biden.
The hack occurred at around 9 a.m. ET, with incumbent Democrat governor of New York Kathy Hochul issuing a statement urging the Post to “immediately explain how this reprehensible content was made public.” “While the Post has made its preferences clear in the Governor’s race, there is no room for violent, sexist rhetoric in our politics. We demand answers,” Hochul’s spokesperson said. “The New York Post has long fostered an ugly, toxic conversation on their front pages and social accounts, but these posts are more disgusting and vile than usual.”
The response on social media was some shock at first, far from the political theater above that treated the headlines as real or an affront to journalistic standards. Others quickly made the same joke about having difficulty differentiating between a real New York Post headline and the fakes posted by the alleged “rogue employee.”
We haven’t reached that level of discourse in our newspapers just yet, but we’ve gotten close. Given the prevalence of “Let’s Go Brandon” flags and their uncensored cousins, can it be completely off the mark to think there are still depths to travel to?
Much like with the New York Post hack, we’ll likely have to sit back and wait. It seems likely to happen before we realize it
