Der Spiegel’s Editor-in-Chief’s Twitter hacked, posted fake apology to Turkey over News Reporting

by Sydney Smith January 19, 2018 05:07 AM EST

(Credit: Twitter)

No, Klaus Brinkbaumer, editor-in-chief of Germany’s Der Spiegel, did not apologize for the news magazine’s reporting on Turkey. But a tweet in German and Turkish was posted on his account reading, “We would like to apologize for the bad news that we have reported and published up till now about Turkey and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”

The tweet, which was deleted within a few hours, included a picture of Erdogan and the Turkish flag, Germany’s public broadcaster Deutsche-Welle reported.

What happened? Brinkbaumer’s Twitter account was hacked and the fake tweet was posted. In a Jan. 14 tweet, Brinkbaumer said, “Last night, while I was traveling in Russia, my Twitter account has been hacked. I tried to open a link which looked like it came from a source in Washington (and didn’t). So I was certainly not behind that Erdogan propaganda published under my name.”

Der Spiegel tweeted on Jan. 13 confirming Brinkbaumer’s account was hacked and that he hadn’t posted the Erdogan tweet. iMediaEthics has written to Brinkbaumer to confirm how long the tweet was posted and ask if the hackers did anything else to his account.

Der Spiegel has repored critically on Turkey, Deutsche-Welle noted.

Last night, while I was traveling in Russia, my Twitter account has been hacked. I tried to open a link which looked like it came from a source in Washington (and didn't). So I was certainly not behind that Erdogan propaganda published under my name. @DerSPIEGEL @SPIEGELONLINE

— Klaus Brinkbäumer (@Brinkbaeumer) January 14, 2018

Der Account unseres Chefredakteurs Klaus Brinkbäumer wurde gehackt, der neueste Tweet über Erdogan sowie das Titelbild sind nicht von ihm. Wir kümmern uns.

— DER SPIEGEL (@DerSPIEGEL) January 13, 2018