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Burger King, McDonald’s and Trump old X posts hijacked with offensive links
Old links in posts from Burger King, McDonald’s and Donald Trump’s X accounts have been altered to redirect to unrelated websites, including pages about Nazi concentration camps and the 9/11 attacks. The apparent hijacking highlights how expired shortened links can be reused, creating reputational risks for organisations whose social media archives remain online.
The article says an unknown party appears to have taken over expired Bitly links and changed their destinations, though the method is unclear. One Burger King post was redirected to a concentration-camp page and another to Adolf Hitler’s biography; a McDonald’s post linked to the 9/11 attacks. Around 20 of Trump’s old posts reportedly had changed links, including redirects to “Baby Fortnite” and Mario and Luigi videos. Burger King said one altered post had been removed, and the article reports that some affected posts were later deleted.
In short
- Old corporate X links were redirected to unrelated and offensive pages.
- The affected accounts include Burger King, McDonald’s and Trump.
- Expired Bitly links may have been acquired and repurposed.
Explained simply
X, formerly known as Twitter, lets people and organisations post messages that remain visible in their account histories. To fit links into posts, users may use services such as Bitly, which turn long web addresses into shorter ones.
A shortened link can keep working only while its owner maintains it. If it expires, someone else may be able to claim it and point it to a different website; the exact method used in this case is unclear. This can affect companies such as Burger King and McDonald’s, as well as public figures, because old posts may still be viewed and shared long after they were written.
The issue matters because a link can change without the original post changing, leaving readers to see content the account owner did not choose. Organisations therefore face risks when links in their social media archives are no longer under their control.