Illustration: The Verge
Donald Trump Jr.’s X account was compromised on Wednesday in one of the more high-profile security lapses during Elon Musk’s ownership of the company. The account made several unusual posts, including one that falsely claimed former President Donald Trump had “passed away” and that Trump Jr. would take his place in the ongoing 2024 presidential campaign. The bogus posts were eventually deleted later in the morning.
Security at X, formerly Twitter, has always been a rocky issue — and it was a problem long before Musk took over. A massive hack in 2020 saw numerous popular accounts hijacked in an effort to push a Bitcoin scam; its perpetrators have since faced legal consequences. Earlier this year, a database posted online was claimed to…