Onion's Twitter Account Hacked by Syrian Electronic Army

Satirical news site the Onion had its Twitter feed hacked on Monday by supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad calling themselves The Syrian Electronic Army.

Considering the farcical nature of most of the Onion's post, the hack reportedly went unnoticed by many of its Twitter followers, until it was later confirmed in the New York Times by the Onion and a representative for the hacking group.

In addition to announcing its presence with posts that read, "The Syrian Electronic Army Was Here," the hacking group tweeted out several disparaging comments about Israel as well as a post claiming that the "UN retracts report of Syrian chemical weapon use."

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The comments, which were made amidst legitimate Onion tweets, have all been taken down.

In the New York Times article, the hacker, whose handle is Th3 Pr0, said the online incursion was in response to a March 25 Onion article about Assad titled "Hi, In The Past 2 Years, You Have Allowed Me To Kill 70,000 People."

"The Onion is a satire news organization and quite often is more trusted to reflect the news than the corporate media is known to," Th3 Pr0 told the New York Times in an e-mail. "Recently they have published an article that savages Syria and its current circumstances."

"This [article] hurt the feelings of many Syrians who relied on it to tell the truth in a funny way," Th3 Pr0 said. "We hoped that our effort to correct their news would draw attention to the fact that it was likely that an outside decision was involved in changing The Onion's tune."

"We hope people take it in good humor and understand our people's suffering," he added. "The Onion can do a much better job reporting the truth through its satire. Unfortunately even they seem to be biased."

After removing the tweets, the Onion responded with several online posts including one titled "Syrian Electronic Army Has A Little Fun Before Inevitable Upcoming Deaths At Hands Of Rebels."

In recent months, The Syrian Electronic Army has also hacked the Twitter accounts of The Associated Press, NPR, CBS, the Guardian, and the BBC, CNET.com reported.

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On April 23, The Syrian Electronic Army was behind a hack that resulted in the AP tweeting out: "Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured."

The fake tweet led to an immediate drop in the stock market before it could be confirmed false by reporters at the White House.

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