Twitter Hackers Accessed Direct Messages in 36 Accounts, Including Elected Official

Social media was supposed to be the great equalizer, but a new study suggests that most elected officials in Canada, the United States and elsewhere are struggling to connect with people on Twitter. Matt Rourke/THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/

The Twitter hackers who breached the accounts of Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and more than 100 other targets accessed the direct message inboxes of up to 36 of the victims, the social media giant announced on July 22.

“We believe that for up to 36 of the 130 targeted accounts, the attackers accessed the [direct message] inbox, including one elected official in the Netherlands. To date, we have no indication that any other former or current elected official had their [direct messages] accessed,” the company said in a statement.