China says ambassador hacked in ‘like’ of pornographic tweet

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom has demanded that Twitter investigate after its ambassador’s official account liked a pornographic post on the social media platform.

A human rights advocate on Twitter posted a screenshot on Wednesday showing that Chinese Ambassador Liu Xiaoming had liked the post.

The embassy responded quickly, sharing a statement Wednesday night saying, “Recently, some anti-China elements viciously attacked Ambassador Liu Xiaoming’s Twitter account and employed despicable methods to deceive the public. The Embassy has reported this to Twitter company and urged the latter to make thorough investigations and handle this matter seriously.”

Twitter declined to comment on the incident.

The BBC reported Wednesday that the ambassador’s official account had also liked a tweet critical of Chinese officials and another critical of the mass detention of China’s Uighur Muslims.

But on Thursday the account only showed two likes — both of which are the ambassador’s own tweets.

Like most popular overseas social media platforms, Twitter is blocked in China, while Chinese social media such as Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, steer well clear of controversial topics to avoid repercussions from the authorities.

However, Chinese officials, particularly in the foreign ministry, have recently taken to Twitter and other social media to advocate for China’s official positions, denigrate critics and counter criticisms over human rights, foreign policy and other issues.