By Ashwani Mishra, Editor-Technology, 63SATS
In an era when 280 characters can tip markets, sway public opinion, or start a war, X (formerly Twitter) has become a battlefield—where disinformation is launched like a digital missile, and global leaders are the new frontline targets.
On April 8, 2025, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s verified X account was hacked. The post that followed was chilling: a false claim that Russian forces had attacked Czech troops near Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave wedged between NATO allies Poland and Lithuania.
The geographical inaccuracy didn’t matter. The psychological impact did.
Within minutes, panic rippled through X. Was NATO under attack? Was this retaliation? The fact that Czechia doesn’t even border Kaliningrad only added to the confusion. The fabricated narrative came at a time of heightened tensions between NATO and Russia—and it was aimed with precision.
While the post was quickly taken down and declared false, the damage had been done.
For a brief window, millions were misled. And that’s the point. Cybercriminals—and increasingly, state-sponsored actors—are no longer hacking for fun or even just financial gain. They’re hacking for disruption, chaos, and control of the global narrative.
Political Panic and Financial Fraud
The Czech incident isn’t an isolated blip—it’s part of a growing trend.
In March 2025, Ghana’s President John Mahama’s verified X account was taken over for two full days. The attackers turned his feed into a megaphone for a fake cryptocurrency project called “Solanafrica,” claiming Mahama was pioneering it to “make payments across Africa free.”
The tweets looked official, sounded visionary, and carried the weight of a leader’s endorsement. Thousands engaged. Some invested. All were deceived.
Behind the scenes, investigators believe a mix of phishing and credential stuffing attacks were used—basic but effective techniques. But what’s evolved is the intent. The goal isn’t just to steal data or money anymore. It’s to hijack trust.
In February 2025, Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s X account was bizarrely repurposed to resemble the Bihar Water Resources Department, complete with the handle “@adolf_gov.” Its bio: “Make Germany Great Again.”
This surreal hack sparked outrage, especially with its apparent nod to Adolf Hitler. But it wasn’t just trolling. It was a weaponized meme—a digital act of historical gaslighting, designed to provoke emotional response, seed mistrust, and erode democratic credibility.
The Modi Crypto Incident: A Precursor to the Present
Go back to September 2020, and you’ll find a hauntingly similar pattern. The official account linked to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal website was hacked. The tweets that followed appealed to citizens to donate to a fake COVID-19 relief fund using cryptocurrency—complete with an Ethereum wallet address.
The incident triggered an investigation by India’s national cybersecurity agency, CERT-In. Twitter (now X) was grilled. The breach wasn’t just embarrassing—it exposed systemic vulnerabilities that remain largely unaddressed.
If world leaders can be impersonated on one of the world’s largest social platforms, what’s to stop the next digital deception from sparking an international crisis?
When Trust Is the Target
What makes these hacks dangerous isn’t the technical sophistication—it’s the psychological exploitation.
Hackers are betting on one thing: we trust blue ticks. And in an age of algorithmic speed, people react before they verify.
Whether it’s pushing fake wars or crypto scams, the playbook remains the same:
- Exploit a trusted identity
- Post content designed to evoke urgency, fear, or opportunity
- Watch the narrative go viral before it’s taken down
Sometimes, they succeed in siphoning millions. Other times, they spark geopolitical tremors. Either way, they win.
A New Era of Digital Diplomacy—or Disarray?
Social media was once hailed as a tool for democratizing voices. Today, it’s an asymmetric weapon.
Governments are waking up. Many are pushing for stronger digital identity verification, real-time threat detection, and closer ties with platforms like X to prevent and respond to such breaches. But progress is slow, and the threat is evolving faster than the defenses.
As cyberwarfare shifts from servers to social media, the battleground is no longer just cyber—it’s emotional, psychological, and political. What we see, believe, and act upon in those fleeting moments of falsehood can have real-world consequences.
The Bottom Line
From stirring chaos near Russian borders to promoting fake fintech revolutions, the hacks we’re witnessing are not just crimes—they’re acts of digital subversion.
In the age of X, the battlefield is blue-ticked, the bullets are bytes, and trust is the first casualty.
