BBC's Nick Robinson hacked, sparking warning for 1million people
BBC journalist Nick Robinson has revealed that his social media has been hacked to 'promote cryptocurrency'. The BBC Radio 4 Today programme presenter, 61, said he became locked out of his X account on Monday night and has been prevented from accessing it.
His co-host Amol Rajan was on the Today programme speaking about the chief executive officer of OpenAI, Sam Altman, saying no to selling his artificial intelligence (AI) company to Tesla Motors chief executive and X owner Elon Musk. Altman has also offered to buy X, formerly Twitter, for less than Musk paid for it.
Rajan said: 'Life comes at you fast and very digitally when you're a tech bro and meanwhile, also on Twitter/X, my very own tech bro, the mighty Nick Robinson, has finally succumbed to the temptations online, and I see overnight, is launching a cryptocurrency.
READ MORE: Burglar shot by killer farmer Tony Martin says 'life's not been kind to me'
READ MORE: Pensioner seen wheeling 'decomposed' body of daughter around UK shopping centre
'This is the big news in Britain, and what listeners want to know Nick is, how do they invest?'
Robinson replied saying 'you're not the only one who discovered this last night', adding: 'I was woken up at about 11 o'clock to find that I had accidentally tweeted to a million people that I was indeed launching a new cryptocurrency called 'dollar today' on something called Solana, which you no doubt know about, but I thought was probably one of those drinks that you give to kids after they've been swimming.
'Yeah, I've been hacked on my Twitter account. So if you read that, it's complete nonsense, quite entertaining nonsense. Actually, it (the cryptocurrency) says that, it's more than a token, it's a way for our listeners to come together, celebrate innovation, and be part of something bigger. I'm still locked out of my account, so anything you read today, it won't be me, but there's a lesson learned.'
Rajan appeared to jokingly point out it might be due to Robinson 'having a bit of a go at Elon Musk'. Robinson replied: 'It was absolutely clear that Mr Musk's American supporters had taken a personal animus because I had been swamped by critical messages after I pointed out that what Mr Musk said on air, that the BBC takes money from USAID (United States Agency for International Development), an organisation he's dismantling, is simply not true.
'The BBC charity called BBC Media Action, which helps tackle disinformation around the world, does indeed take some money from other charitable sources and USAID. The BBC news organisation and the BBC overall does not. Anyway, there we are, that didn't make me very popular.'
Robinson, a former BBC political editor, is also a presenter on BBC Radio 4 show Political Thinking, and presents The Today Podcast with Rajan. Musk, who is leading the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), is trying to dismantle USAID, and compared it to a 'bowl of worms' during a recent interview.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
32 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Stock Movers: Boeing, Airbus, Alaska Air
On this episode of Stock Movers: - Boeing (BA) shares are lower this morning as a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft operated by Air India crashed shortly after taking off in Ahmedabad, with 242 passengers and crew on board, and no reports of survivors. The crash occurred in a residential area and is considered one of the worst accidents involving the 787 Dreamliner, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling it "heartbreaking beyond words". - Airbus (AIR) shares are following Boeing lower on the plane crash in India. Boeing shares fell in premarket US trading, and the company is working to gather more information about the incident, which is the biggest commercial airline crash since 2014. - American Airlines (AAL) is trading lower as well this morning following the crash. It tends to lead other American airliners lower, including Delta (DAL) and United (UAL) this morning. - Alaska Airlines (ALK) are higher this morning as one of the few American airlines that are trending higher despite the crash. Alaska Airlines has less exposure to international flights than other American airliners.
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Meta Sues Hong Kong Firm in Crackdown on Deepfake Nude Apps
(Bloomberg) -- Meta Platforms Inc. is suing a Hong Kong-based business for allegedly promoting so-called nudify apps, as the Facebook owner attempts to combat a surge in naked and sexual images created by artificial intelligence. Shuttered NY College Has Alumni Fighting Over Its Future Trump's Military Parade Has Washington Bracing for Tanks and Weaponry NYC Renters Brace for Price Hikes After Broker-Fee Ban NY Long Island Rail Service Resumes After Grand Central Fire Do World's Fairs Still Matter? The tech giant said it filed a lawsuit in Hong Kong to stop Joy Timeline HK Ltd. allegedly advertising CrushAI apps on Meta platforms. The apps allow people to create AI-generated nude or sexually explicit images of individuals without their consent, Meta said in a post on its website Thursday. The legal action is part of broader crackdown on online non-consensual sexual images, which can be used for sextortion, blackmail and abuse. Meta, which also owns Instagram, said it will now share with other technology companies information about ads, accounts and content that have been removed for promoting nudify apps. In its post, Meta said it had noticed 'concerning growth' in this area. 'With nudify apps being advertised across the internet — and available in App Stores themselves — removing them from one platform alone isn't enough,' Meta said. Joy Timeline didn't immediately respond to a request for comment sent to its public email address. Meta is under fire around the world for not doing enough to protect teenagers and young people. In Australia, a world-first ban on social media for under-16s will start this year, and other countries are tightening content oversight. But while Meta is fighting back against some fake, auto-generated material, it's pushing deeper into artificial intelligence more broadly. Advertisers promoting nudify apps are changing tactics to avoid being caught, according to Meta. Some use benign images to evade detection, while others swiftly create new domain names to replace blocked websites. In response, Meta said it has developed technology to identify such ads, even when they don't include nudity. In its Hong Kong lawsuit, Meta claims Joy Timeline repeatedly tried to circumvent ad review processes after they were removed for breaking Meta's rules. --With assistance from Kurt Wagner and Newley Purnell. New Grads Join Worst Entry-Level Job Market in Years American Mid: Hampton Inn's Good-Enough Formula for World Domination The Spying Scandal Rocking the World of HR Software The SEC Pinned Its Hack on a Few Hapless Day Traders. The Full Story Is Far More Troubling Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert Wants to Donate His Billions—and Walk Again ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Oil prices ease but hover near two-month highs as Middle East tensions escalate
Oil prices fell on Thursday morning, easing back after rallying but hovered around their highest point in two months, as investors eyed escalating tensions in the Middle East and a potential disruption to supply. Brent crude futures (BZ=F) fell 0.9% to $68.31 a barrel, at the time of writing, while West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) declined 0.9% at $67.56 a barrel. US president Donald Trump said on Wednesday that some of US personnel were being moved out of the Middle East because "it could be a dangerous place to be". This came following reports earlier in the day that the US was preparing a partial evacuation of its embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. CBS News reported that US officials had been told Israel was ready to launch an operation into Iran and that the US anticipated Iran could retaliate on certain American sites in Iraq. Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: Stocks slump as UK GDP contracts in blow to Rachel Reeves Trump said in an interview with the New York Post, released earlier on Wednesday, that he was "less confident" about getting Iran to agree to halt its nuclear programme. In a press briefing on Wednesday, Iran's defence minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said: "Some officials on the other side threaten conflict if negotiations don't come to fruition. If a conflict is imposed on us ... all US bases are within our reach and we will boldly target them in host countries." Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said that oil prices remain near a two-month high "driven by rising US-Iran tensions and fears of supply disruptions. At the same time, optimism about energy demand grew after the US and China reached a trade framework, and US crude stockpiles fell more than expected, signalling strong consumption." Gold prices jumped on Thursday morning, as Middle East tensions buoyed demand for the safe-haven asset. Gold futures (GC=F) surged nearly 1% to $3,376 per ounce at the time of writing, while the spot gold price advanced 0.1% to $3,359.49 per ounce. The precious metal is considered to be a safe haven asset, in acting as a hedge amid political and economic uncertainty. Britzman said: "Gold was another winner, with its safe-haven appeal gaining traction amid rising Middle East tensions and softer US inflation data, which gave a modest boost to expectations for rate cuts." Read more: UK economy shrinks by 0.3% in April Data released on Wednesday showed that the US consumer prices index (CPI) rose by 0.1% month-on-month, which was below April's 0.2% rise and lower than economists' estimates of a 0.2% monthly gain in prices. On an annual basis, CPI rose 2.4% in May, a slight uptick from April's 2.3% gain, which marked the lowest yearly increase since February 2021. Investors were also monitoring the latest trade developments, after Trump said in a social media post on Wednesday afternoon that Washington's deal with China is "DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI AND ME". The pound rose slightly against the dollar (GBPUSD=X) on Thursday morning, up 0.2% to $1,3571, despite a bigger than expected contraction in UK economic growth. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that the UK's gross domestic product (GDP) — the standard measure of an economy's value — shrank by 0.3% in April, which was more than the 0.1% contraction expected by economists. The fall followed growth of 0.2% in March and a 0.7% rise in GDP in the first quarter. This latest economic data comes a day after chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered the UK spending review, sharing details of governmental department budgets for the next few years. Key announcements included a £29bn per year increase in funding for the NHS, while the government's defence budget is set to increase from 2.3% to 2.6% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) from 2027. Reeves also shared details of a £39bn boost to funding for affordable housing and £15.6bn for transport projects in England's largest city regions outside of London. Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said: "It's hard not to look at today's headline fall in economic growth as anything other than inevitable. Company after company had warned the chancellor that the decisions taken during last year's budget would impact business growth and create huge uncertainty about existing staffing levels." "Rachel Reeves has said she is determined to deliver growth, and her spending plans have been given a cautious welcome by business groups up and down the country — but the caution speaks volumes," she said. "Can the government's trade policies and spending plans deliver the promised growth or was the energy demonstrated by the UK economy at the start of the year merely a tease?" In other currency moves, the pound fell 0.4% against the euro (GBPEUR=X), trading at €1.1743 at the time of writing. More broadly, the the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) was little changed, trading at 8,863 points at the time writing. For more details, on broader market movements check our live coverage here. Read more: Bitcoin price dips as markets cool after US-China tariff talks What you need to know about UK's private stock market Pisces UK house prices remain flat as buyer demand and sales steady
