At around 0630 GMT, as we were setting up the Iran and North Africa/Middle East LiveBlogs, we noticed a series of disturbing updates from the Twitter account of Fox News Politics:
Just regained full access to our Twitter and email. Happy 4th
@BarackObama has just passed. The President is dead. A sad 4th of July, indeed. President Barack Obama is dead
@BarackObama has just passed. Nearly 45 minutes ago, he was shot twice in the lower pelvic area and in the neck; shooter unknown. Bled out
@BarackObama shot twice at a Ross' restaurant in Iowa while campaigning. RIP Obama, best regards to the Obama family.
#ObamaDead, it's a sad 4th of July. RT to support the late president's family, and RIP. The shooter will be found
BREAKING NEWS: President @BarackObama assassinated, 2 gunshot wounds have proved too much. It's a sad 4th for #america. #obamadead RIP
We wish @joebiden the best of luck as our new President of the United States. In such a time of madness, there's light at the end of tunnel
So what happened?
Earlier this morning a hacker group, the "Script Kiddies", claimed it had managed to post messages on Fox News' account: "Fox news politics hacked by the scrip tkiddies! http://t.co/6yZDcTS more embarrassment for FoxNews is imitate [sic]."
The Script Kiddies offered to help AntiSec, a movement of the hacktivist group Anonymous to get into government and corporate websites.
The SK Twitter account was suspended, but it quickly declared a new account and success, "Here is the new, hopefully permanent address @FoxNewsPolitics just hacked."
Even though SK has been suspended again, the false Obama tweets are still live on Fox News Politics.