World
  1. Home
  2. World
Save
Print
License article

'Compromised' McDonald's insults 'disgusting' Donald Trump on Twitter

Latika Bourke

Donald Trump is usually the one firing off the insults online but the tables were turned when the official Twitter account of fast food giant McDonald's told him he had "tiny hands," and was a "disgusting excuse of a President".

In the now deleted tweet, the message also wished for the return of the former Democratic President Barack Obama. 

Up Next

Gangland murder conviction

null
Video duration
00:32

More Videos

null
Video duration
01:42

Viagogo to go?
null
Video duration
00:31

Smylie Kaufman freaked by alligator
null
Video duration
01:33

Peter Dutton strikes out at Alan Joyce
More videos

Trump bites back at Hawaii judge

After a Hawaii judge deemed Donald Trump's travel ban unconstitutional, he goes on the offensive at a rally in Nashville, Tennessee.

"You are actually a disgusting excuse of a president and we would love to have @BarackObama back, also you have tiny hands," the tweet read.

Soon after the tweet was issued, McDonald's claimed to have been "compromised."

"Twitter notified us that our account was compromised," the company said in a tweet. 

"We deleted the tweet, secured our account and are now investigating this," the company said.

Advertisement

McDonald's US spokeswoman Terry Hickey added: "We are now further investigating this."

The President, a fan of both fast food and Twitter, had not responded but is notoriously prone to engaging in disputes on the social media platform.

The tweet was briefly pinned to the top of the McDonald's Twitter account, meaning it would be the first message visitors to the profile read.

The online misfire comes after McDonald's went on a major recruiting drive, boosting the number of digital staff by 200 late last year, according to The Wall Street Journal, a move aimed at winning over millennials. 

A spokesman for Twitter said the social media site doesn't comment on individual accounts. Other Twitter users responded to the original McDonald's tweet, with some joking that they would visit McDonald's more as a result.

Analysts said the hack raises questions about security at Twitter, but was unlikely to do much damage to restaurant chain's brand.

"As long as Trump doesn't tweet at them directly, which could be pretty disastrous, this will be a short-term thing for them," said Mike Froggatt, director of intelligence at L2, which monitors the digital performance of brands.

"Twitter trending topics last for maybe six hours, a backlash for 10 to 12 hours and then it goes and the herd moves on," said Froggatt, who added that the incident raised the question of whether McDonald's used the safety tools Twitter offers.

Kellan Terry, a senior data analyst for BrandWatch, a company that provides social media insights, said the tweet caused McDonald's Twitter mentions to spike more than 150 per cent.

About two-thirds of the mentions showing emotion were positive.

"Big Macs are starting to trend within the McDonald's conversation as people are either saying they are buying a Big Mac today to mark the occasion, or they wonder if Trump supporters will now cut Big Macs from their diet," Terry said.

Terry doesn't believe the tweet will have an impact on McDonald's beyond the next few days.

"There are just so many ways, if you're not careful, for an adversary to have access to your social media accounts," said Michael Bailey, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "Corporations are ripe targets because they have such a large presence on social media."

with Reuters, McClatchy