New Delhi:
The official X (formally Twitter) account of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been reportedly hacked and modified to look like a handle of the Bihar government’s Water Resources Department. There has been no official communication from the German government regarding the incident, but media reports pointed out that earlier hackers made the account look like a verified page of the erstwhile Nazi Party’s chief Adolf Hitler.
The alleged hack was first flagged by several X users after the account’s user name was changed to @adolf_gov. Its description was changed to “Make Germany Great Again”, taking a leaf out of US President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign.
“Make Germany Great Again. Decentralisation is what will help me to implement my plans,” read the description of the account with 57 thousand followers.
The verified X account of BRICS News posted that the account belonged to the German president and had been hacked. BRICS News also posted a screenshot of the German President’s account before it got hacked, which showed the same @FrankWalterGER handle and a different caption
The account of German President Steinmeier was hacked and briefly renamed Adolf Hitler lol. pic.twitter.com/MdH641teT2
— Adil Zd (@adil59516) February 15, 2025
Following this, the account was briefly suspended, but it reappeared later with its name changed to the Water Resources Department of the government of Bihar while still using the handle @FrankWalterGER.
Hackers also posted an image of Hitler with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini with the caption “Remember: when you stand together, when your goal is the same, when your spirit is unshakable, nothing can stop you. #MGGA”, where the abbreviation likely standing for ‘Make Germany Great Again.’
This post has since been removed from the account.
Since being hacked, the account has gained significant followers, with the current count standing at 59.9 thousand.