British man arrested in Spain, charged in US with Twitter hack that targeted politicians and celebrities
- Joseph O’Connor, 22, is accused of involvement in a July 2020 hack of more than 130 accounts and of cyberstalking
- During the security breach, fake tweets were sent from the accounts of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Elon Musk
A British man has been charged in the United States in connection with a Twitter hack last summer that compromised the accounts of prominent politicians, celebrities and technology moguls, the Justice Department said on Wednesday.
Joseph O’Connor, 22, was arrested in the coastal resort town of Estepona, Spain, on an arrest warrant accusing him of involvement in a July 2020 hack of more than 130 accounts, and of hacks that prosecutors said took over TikTok and Snapchat accounts, including “one of the most viewed and followed” TikTok stars. Prosecutors also accuse O’Connor of cyberstalking a juvenile.
A criminal complaint filed in federal court in the Northern District of California does not identify the popular TikTok personality whose account was compromised, but the date in the charging document matches up with the date that Addison Rae – who has about 82 million followers – revealed that she had been hacked.
The complaint charges O’Connor – who went by the online handle PlugWalkJoe – with crimes including cyberstalking, making extortive and threatening communications and intentionally accessing a computer without authorisation.
It was not immediately clear if O’Connor had a lawyer, although in prior interviews he has denied wrongdoing.