Pro-Syrian Regime Hackers Hit Reuters

As Bashar al-Assad's forces continue to pound Syria's biggest city, his allies on the Internet have laid siege to Reuters. One of the news agency's Twitter accounts was hacked yesterday, and 22 fake messages were posted, many of them spreading false news about heavy rebel defeats or claiming that the US government supports al-Qaeda, reports the New York Times.

"FSA source complains that Syrian army 'broke their back' in Salah al Deen," read one tweet. "Friends all along: Obama signs executive order to release classified info that US never stopped funding al-Qaeda since '80s," read another. Last week, hackers broke into Reuters' blogging platform and also posted false stories supporting the Assad regime. (More Reuters stories.)