Brexit campaigner Arron Banks has Twitter account hacked
Self-described “bad boy of Brexit” Arron Banks has had his Twitter account hacked and his personal messages shared online.
Banks – who co-founded Leave.Eu – also accused Twitter of not taking action or removing the “illegal data downloads” from the platform.
Read more: Arron Banks apologises for Leave.Eu tweet about Angela Merkel that ‘went too far’
Banks has reported the matter to police and his account has now reportedly been suspended.
“I became aware last night that my Twtter account had been ahcked and that persons involved have posted personal data obtained illegally via Twitter,” he said.
“Twitter were notified 12 hours ago, and despite repeated requests they have taken no action to deactiviate the account or remove the illegal data downloads.
“Despite the obvious lack of security at Twitter relating to personal data, they have deliberately chosen to leave personal data in the public domain.”
Twitter were contacted for comment on Banks’ allegations.
Direct messages from Banks’ account were posted online by the hackers, however they have since been removed.
Journalist Carole Cadwalladr posted on Twitter that she had seen the messages and they were “pretty explosive”.
Cadwalladr added that the incident was a chance for Banks to “reflect” on data privacy laws, after he was fined £120,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) this year for breaching them.
“Arron Banks has shown extraordinary contempt for the ICO and British data laws and so this is a moment for him to reflect on the need for those laws and a regulator to enforce them,” she said.
The saga comes as it was revealed today that the Brexit Party was being investigated by the ICO for failing to disclose details of personal data it had collected.
Read more: Brexit Party being investigated by ICO over data disclosure
The ICO is investigating Nigel Farage’s party, after complaints it had not responded to questions about personal data collection.
Data protection law mandates that people have the right to know what data an organisation has about them and can lodge what is termed as a Subject Access Request.