Anonymous Hacked Burger King Twitter Yesterday Because of Horse Meat

The hacker group Anonymous -- that sallow group of individuals ensconced somewhere in their parents' basements -- yesterday took down the King of Burgers. Sometime in the afternoon, Anonymous assumed control of Burger King's Twitter feed, putting up a McDonald's logo, tweeting that the company had been sold to McDonald's,...

By Terrence McCoy

February 19, 2013

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The hacker group Anonymous -- that sallow group of individuals ensconced somewhere in their parents' basements -- yesterday took down the King of Burgers. Sometime in the afternoon, Anonymous assumed control of Burger King's Twitter feed, putting up a McDonald's logo, tweeting that the company had been sold to McDonald's, and uploading a photo of a black youth injecting some type of drug.

Then, it laughed its ass off.

Until late last night, however, it wasn't clear why Anonymous took over BK's Twitter. But then, around midnight, the answer surfaced in several of the hacker group's own tweets @YourAnonNews. Anonymous -- which has a penchant for taking itself extremely seriously -- took over Burger King's twitter feed because of horse meat.

BREAKING: egg Burger King is using for their twitter avi is made out of horse meat.
-- Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) February 18, 2013

horse meat RT @frank_logreco: @youranonnews I would agree burger king tastes better, smells better and it doesn't taste like a rubber tire.
-- Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) February 19, 2013

Burger King scandal shines spotlight on murky horse trade - ow.ly/hPDQY
-- Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) February 19, 2013

Late last month, Burger King cut ties with a U.K. beef provider, Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods in Ireland and Dalepak Hambleton in Britain, after the companies tested positive for horse DNA.

Afterward, Burger King said: SURPRISE. You may have been eating horse meat the whole time, everyone! Haha haha... ha?

"They promised to deliver 100% British and Irish beef patties and have not done so," Burger King said in a statement discussing the U.K. beef companies. "This is a clear violation of our specifications, and we have terminated our relationship with them."

For Anonymous, this apparently wasn't enough. Though it's never been verified that Burger King's patties contained horse meat -- nor is there anything dangerous about consuming equine -- Anonymous wasn't taking any chances, riding to the rescue to embarrass a company for possibly having a safe ingredient in their patties.

Burger King has since reclaimed possession of its Twitter feed @BurgerKing, which now has hundreds of new followers because of the mischief.

You sure got them good, Anonymous.

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