Kent council’s Twitter feed claimed to have been ‘taken over by the citizens of Medway’, announcing end to parking restrictions and council tax

Hackers took over Medway Council’s Twitter feed for around 10 minutes – Photo credit: Fotolia

Medway Council in Kent has said its Twitter feed was taken over by hackers, after a series of tweets set out dream policies of people claiming to be acting on behalf of the “citizens of Medway”.

The social media account of the council, which has 15,900 followers, sent out a series of tweets in the evening of Tuesday (2 May).

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The first tweet claimed that the feed had been “taken over by the citizens of Medway”, with another asking for crowd-sourced opinions on what actions the council should take.

There were then a string of tweets – quickly picked up by other Twitter users and now deleted by the council – that suggested a range of “policies”. These included free council tax for all, no more parking tickets and an end to the local Rochester Dickens Festival for enthusiasts of the author Charles Dickens

Wouldn’t want to be @medway_council‘s social media manager right now. pic.twitter.com/Jr3T74SbsH

— The Political Medway (@MedwayPolitics) May 2, 2017

The council later tweeted that the account had been hacked, and apologised for any office caused.

Our account was hacked for a short time earlier this evening. Sorry for any offence caused by the tweets which have now been removed.

— Medway Council (@medway_council) May 2, 2017

The council said that it took social media security very seriously and was investigating the incident.

Medway had a population of 274,015 in 2014, and the council has 55 councillors.