An odd change to a social media account associated with Fox News personality Tucker Carlson led to some unusual speculation that his account was compromised Tuesday evening.
The speculation was fueled by a social media posting by someone purporting to be associated with the hacker collective Anonymous, which said Carlson’s account had been “hacked” at some point during the day.
The post included a screenshot of Carlson’s account that included an updated biography describing the Fox News personality as a “non-binary climate change activist of color, visionary tech founder, CNBC market analyst” and informal advisor to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The biography concluded with two emojis representing the transgender pride flag.
The rest of Carlson’s Twitter account appeared unaffected: During his Fox News program, someone with control of Carlson’s account posted clips from his Tuesday evening Fox News program “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” and a link associated with his biography still resolved to his personal website.
The issue was further publicized by writer and social media personality Brian Krassenstein, who tweeted his enthusiasm to see Carlson’s account purportedly compromised by hackers.
“I’m against hacking, of course, but if I was to let one slide, this would be it,” Krassenstein wrote to his 626,000 followers on Twitter.
But a spokesperson for Fox News Media confirmed to The Desk that Carlson’s account was not compromised — by Anonymous or anyone else — and that Carlson and the network remained in full control of his Twitter profile on Tuesday.
“The Anonymous claim is false,” the spokesperson wrote in an e-mail to The Desk. “The account has not been hacked.”
As it turns out, the unusual Twitter biography is not out of the ordinary for Carlson: Last year, he updated the description on his account to state that he was a “graduate of Harvard College” (he graduated from Trinity College) and won an Emmy Award for his broadcast journalism (as far as The Desk could tell, he’s never won an Emmy Award, and probably won’t anytime soon).
In addition to his prime-time Fox News Channel show, Carlson also hosts “Tucker Carlson Today” on the streaming service Fox Nation. Carlson also produced and hosted a documentary for Fox Nation that explored the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried, the young financial mogul whose cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX collapsed late last year.
Fox News Channel and Fox Nation are part of Fox News Media, which is owned by Fox Corporation.
