Australian defence minister blames 'hackers' for liked gay porn video on his Twitter account

Australian defence industry minister Christopher Pyne said Thursday (16 November) that hackers were responsible for "liking" a hardcore gay pornography video via his Twitter account.

Pyne, a Liberal member of the House of Representatives for the division of Sturt, later brushed off any suggestion he was involved and said the video was 'liked' in the early hours of the morning. It was highlighted online by a bot account that tracks the activity of federal politicians.

"I was hacked overnight!" he wrote. "[It] was at 2am. Someone tried to hack my social media yesterday. Maybe they are making mischief over the plebiscite?" he added, in reference to a national survey which had revealed strong support for same-sex marriage.

The explicit video showed two men engaged in sexual acts, and remained 'liked' for approximately three hours. It had been posted by the account "Xxxporngay".

It has since been removed from his timeline, but because the internet never forgets there are many screenshots.

Local media reported that hackers also attempted to access Pyne's Facebook account. According to News.au, his team has stressed there were "no defence or security implications" over the hack.

But opposition politicians say they believe otherwise. Conservative senator Cory Bernardi, via Twitter, pledged to file a parliamentary motion and called for a probe to be launched.

He wrote: "Deeply concerned about national security implications of hacking of Pyne's social media account. Need full investigation and report in case is foreign agent trying to influence elections."

And opposition leader, Bill Shorten, echoed the sentiment. "We want to make sure that important military and defence information can't be hacked," he said, according to 9news.com.au.

"There have been other problems with preserving the security of our defence information with private contractors, so I think it is a worry and I think the government should take it seriously,."

The entire situation brought back memories of US senator Ted Cruz, who recently hit the headlines after his Twitter account "liked" a pornographic video. Cruz later placed blame on his staff.

Of course, users on social media were quick to judge. Some responded to Pyne's hacking claim with the inevitable memes, while others said it may have raised some national security concerns.

"It's awesome that Christopher Pyne got access to his account back so QUICKLY after a hack that liked one gay porn tweet at 2am," one user commented, adding: "When my Twitter was hacked the hacker posted material for hours & it took DAYS for Twitter to restore secure access."

Another post read: "Hahaha....funny as. The hacker got in and liked one post." A third commenter added: "You should request that the AFP and other relevant authorities investigate."