A recent cryptic tweet from the official Twitter handle of US Strategic Command sent netizens into a frenzy, with people guessing everything from it being US nuclear launch codes to Pentagon being hacked. But the truth is far from everything people guessed and thankfully less dangerous.
On March 28, the US Stratcom tweeted random character and letters, which led many to believe that this is either a hack or a signal to political conspirators. There was no end to what people guessed looking at this cryptic tweet, but the cat is finally out of the bag.
Shortly after the tweet went viral, garnering thousands of RTs and likes, the US Strategic Command realised the gaffe and deleted it. The tweet had said: ";l;;gmlxzssaw," to which many thought it could well be the US nuclear launch codes, or a sign that Pentagon got hacked or even a signal to political conspiracists. It was none of the above.
Mystery solved
Here's the official response:
"The Command's Twitter manager, while in a telework status, momentarily left the Command's Twitter account open and unattended. His very young child took advantage of the situation and started playing with the keys and, unfortunately, and unknowingly, posted the tweet," Stratcom official Kendall Cooper said in a letter Thalen posted.
So yes, it was a child who was behind that gibberish text posted from US Stratcom's Twitter account, while it was left unattended.
"Absolutely nothing nefarious occurred, i.e., no hacking of our Twitter account. The post was discovered and notice to delete it occurred telephonically," the statement added.
