An individual calling themself a "super-hacker" hijacked Disneyland's social media accounts and uploaded several racist and homophobic posts before the accounts were recovered.
Deadline reports that the person responsible, self-identified as David Do, said their intention was to "bring revenge" on the California theme park. No further details about their motives are currently known. The now-deleted posts contained offensive slurs referring to Black people and those in the LGBTQ+ community.
Shortly after the hack was discovered and rectified, Disneyland released a statement addressing the incident. "Disneyland Resort's Facebook and Instagram accounts were compromised early this morning," the message reads. "We worked quickly to remove the reprehensible content, secure our accounts, and our security teams are conducting an investigation."
Hackers Targeting Social Media
Social media hacks are rare for large companies like Disney, but there have been some notable instances over the past decade. Hacker group OurMine is perhaps the most prolific organization known for taking over accounts belonging to big-name individuals and corporations, including several Marvel Studios-owned accounts. In 2016, the group hijacked the official Twitter accounts for Black Panther, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and several others, posting the same message through each account. "Hey, it's OurMine," the tweets read. "Don't worry we are just testing your security, contact us to help you with your security."
Disneyland was most recently in the news with the announcement that the popular, longstanding theme park ride Splash Mountain would be revamped as Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Named after Disney's first Black Princess from 2009's The Princess and the Frog, the ride will open at both Disneyland and Florida's Disney World in late 2024. The change was announced in 2020 after Splash Mountain was slammed for being inspired by the controversial 1946 film Song of the South, which has been heavily criticized for its portrayal of racist stereotypes. Charita Carter, executive producer of relevancy activations at Walt Disney Imagineering, said Tiana's Bayou Adventure will be "a love letter to New Orleans."
Another popular Disneyland feature is Avengers Campus, which often debuts real-life costumed counterparts for trending Marvel Studios heroes. Most recently, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' America Chavez and two versions of Moon Knight from his titular Disney+ series were spotted at Avengers Campus. These costumed staff members typically interact with and take photos with park attendees while in character.
Source: Deadline, Twitter