Sen. Don Plett’s hacked Twitter account joins Team Nicki Minaj in feud with Cardi B

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This article was published 30/10/2018 (2600 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — On a typical week, Sen. Don Plett might tweet about gun rights or political correctness run amok. But on Monday, someone hijacked his Twitter account to stir up rap-star drama.

“It was frustrating, and it’s still frustrating, but it could have been far worse,” the Manitoba senator told the Free Press Tuesday, after regaining control over a hacked account.

The account was voicing support for the rapper Nicki Minaj amid a social-media feud with her nemesis, Cardi B.

“keep slaying the game GIRLLL!” Plett’s account tweeted, with a fist emoji.

“I hadn’t heard of them until last night,” said Plett, 68, who said he normally prefers country-gospel hits.

Other messages included words of motivation and comments on various photos, including: “Such a cute pooch!”

The account also switched its description from “Opposition Whip in the Senate. Proud Manitoban” to “Harley Davidson Enthusiast,” and used a black-and-white photo of a muscular, shirtless man covered in tattoos.

The Conservative senator got wind of his social-media meltdown when a friend called at about 9 p.m.

The account blocked all followers and switched email addresses, leaving his staff scrambling past midnight to get help from Twitter’s California headquarters. It took 15 hours to resolve, Plett said.

“Obviously you have a lot of emotions: frustration, some fear — I’ve been involved in a lot of things that some activists aren’t happy about. So you start wondering, OK, what’s going on?”

Plett has faced sustained criticism over his opposition to a recent bill to ban holding whales in captivity (he says that’s outside federal jurisdiction and ignores some research), and earlier legislation to enshrine transgender people in the human-rights code.

The senator was relieved when he saw the tweets were fairly inane, but he questions what would happen if they were political tweets during an election. “That, in itself, is scary and a problem,” he said.

Senate banking committee just finished a report warning about hackers preying on businesses, while the Communications Security Establishment is working with parties to help them prevent hacks in next year’s election.

It turns out Plett has never been the one authoring his tweets. His assistant writes them out and gets him to vet them. She also had to send him screen captures of the offending tweet so he could understand what was happening.

“This is how illiterate I am when it comes to Twitter,” he said.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca