On March 5, Duke University's Twitter account was hacked, according to the The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The University tweeted a photo of the Turkish flag and a Swastika accompanied by several "Nazi" hashtags. In a subsequent post, Duke said that its account had been hacked.
According to The Chronicle, Duke associate vice president of news, communications and media Kristen Brown said the "issue was due to a third-party Twitter analytics company" and that Duke was "not a specific target."
The University is currently investigating the situation.
The hacking was not an isolated incident, as various other companies including the BBC and Forbes Magazine have experienced similar security failures. Tweets from these accounts voiced support for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Turkey.
According to The New York Times, earlier this month Erdoğan called the Dutch "Nazi remnants" after the Netherlands refused to let the Turkish foreign minister into the country to campaign in favor of a referendum to alter Erdoğan's power.
No such Twitter hacking occurred on Penn's official account.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
Donate