Belgian police launch investigation into ‘unauthorized use’ of Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan’s Twitter account

Belgian police have launched an investigation after Irish MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan claimed his Twitter account was hacked last week.

Flanagan’s account tweeted at 2.50am Monday morning: “Sapirse [sic] mchugh photo skinny dipping ”.

Since then, the former TD has claimed that his account was “compromised.”

In a statement this afternoon, Flanagan said he had contacted Belgian police who are now investigating the incident.

He said his account was logged into a third-party app called Tweetcaster, which he said allowed individual tweets from his account using an old password. Said the person who did this logged in from Belgium. Flanagan himself has been at home in Ireland since March due to Covid-19.

The statement reads: “A parliamentary assistant of mine together with a designated investigator from DG SAFE met with the Belgian police on Wednesday morning.

“Now I have established that my Twitter account has been started in a third party application called Tweetcaster. This application allowed a person to tweet from my account with a previous password.

“This app was used twice to access my Twitter account from Belgium on September 28, the same day an unauthorized tweet was posted and then removed from my account.

“At the time the tweet was posted and then deleted, I was in Ireland and have been since March this year due to Covid-19 restrictions.

“The police received the Belgian IP address associated with the use of my account in the Tweetcaster app that day. They are now working with me to establish the exact location and identity of the person who has carried out this malicious act of vandalism in my good name. “