Turkish hackers Ayyildiz Tim apparently hacked the Twitter accounts of actor Anupam Kher, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav and Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta on Tuesday after similar attacks on the social media accounts of conservative American personalities last month. Messages with the words “Love Pakistan” were tweeted from the hacked accounts, causing consternation among Kher’s millions of followers. The hacks occurred on Safer Internet Day, organised each year to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones.
The hackers changed Kher’s Twitter handle from “AnupamPKher” to “AnupamPKherTC”, resulting in it losing its blue tick denoting its verified status for a short while. The account was also briefly suspended before being restored. Dasgupta’s account too was suspended while Madhav’s account was available with several tweets posted by Ayyildiz Tim, which had targeted supporters of US President Donald Trump in January.
In a tweet on the hackings, Twitter Support said: “Our teams are working to resolve an issue affecting a small number of Indian users. We will notify affected account holders directly. Reminder: do not click on links in DMs coming from unknown accounts.”

Turkish hackers Ayyildiz Tim apparently hacked the Twitter accounts of actor Anupam Kher, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav and Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta on Tuesday after similar attacks on the social media accounts of conservative American personalities last month. Messages with the words “Love Pakistan” were tweeted from the hacked accounts, causing consternation among Kher’s millions of followers. The hacks occurred on Safer Internet Day, organised each year to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones.
The hackers changed Kher’s Twitter handle from “AnupamPKher” to “AnupamPKherTC”, resulting in it losing its blue tick denoting its verified status for a short while. The account was also briefly suspended before being restored. Dasgupta’s account too was suspended while Madhav’s account was available with several tweets posted by Ayyildiz Tim, which had targeted supporters of US President Donald Trump in January.
In a tweet on the hackings, Twitter Support said: “Our teams are working to resolve an issue affecting a small number of Indian users. We will notify affected account holders directly. Reminder: do not click on links in DMs coming from unknown accounts.”