Several world leaders’ X (formerly Twitter) accounts were hacked ahead of major elections, highlighting growing misuse of social media. The report notes that U.S. Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were among those targeted. In 2020, four months before the U.S. presidential election, a large-scale cyberattack compromised verified accounts of Biden, Obama, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates. Hackers used these accounts to post fraudulent cryptocurrency offers before X regained control after about three hours.

Donald Trump’s X account was breached differently when Dutch cybersecurity researcher Victor Gevers claimed to have accessed it without complex tools, prompting the activation of two-factor authentication. Before the 2016 U.S. election, Russian hackers infiltrated the Democratic National Committee’s emails and leaked data, while accounts of Republican figures were also targeted.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s accounts were hacked multiple times, including in 2020 and 2021. One incident falsely claimed that the Indian government had legalized Bitcoin, after which the account was quickly secured and officials urged the public not to be misled.