Overview

• Hackers commandeered Elmo’s official X account, which has roughly 650,000 followers, to post antisemitic, racist and anti-Trump messages, including calls for violence.
• Sesame Workshop confirmed the breach on July 13 and began working to regain full control and remove the offensive content.
• By July 14 the organization had fully secured the account and deleted all hateful posts, though screenshots of the messages continue circulating online.
• The incident underscores how trusted social media profiles can be exploited to disseminate hate speech and conspiracy-laden misinformation.
• Investigators are probing how hackers breached the account on X, which has seen a marked rise in extremist content since Elon Musk’s 2022 acquisition.