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.
“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.