A Two-Week Hijacking on Parliament Hill's Radar
Canada's federal political world had a strange few weeks after Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet lost control of his X account to hackers who used it to promote a bitcoin scheme. The account has now been restored, but not before raising uncomfortable questions about how long it took for the situation to be resolved — and how long it took the party to say anything about it publicly.
According to Blanchet, the platform (formerly known as Twitter) finally handed the account back after roughly two weeks of it being under someone else's control. During that stretch, the compromised account was reportedly used to push cryptocurrency promotions to Blanchet's followers, a common tactic used by hackers who take over verified or high-profile accounts to lend false credibility to crypto scams.
Slow to Respond, Slower to Explain
What's drawn as much attention as the hack itself is the timeline of the party's public response. Blanchet pointed out that it took the Bloc Québécois nearly as long to publicly acknowledge that something was wrong with his account as it did for X to actually fix the problem. For a federal party leader whose social media presence plays a role in shaping public discourse — especially heading into any future election cycle — a two-week gap in transparency is a notable stumble.
Account takeovers involving cryptocurrency scams have become an increasingly common tactic against high-profile figures, from celebrities to elected officials. Hackers often use compromised accounts to make bitcoin or other crypto promotions appear to come from a trusted source, hoping followers will click through to fraudulent sites or investment schemes before the account owner or the platform catches on.
What It Means for Political Accountability
For Canadians who follow federal politics — including the many in the Ottawa region who watch Parliament Hill closely given the capital's front-row seat to national affairs — the incident is a reminder that even sitting members of Parliament and party leaders aren't immune to basic account security failures. It also raises broader questions about how responsive social media platforms like X are when a verified political figure's account is compromised, and how much scrutiny parties themselves face when they're slow to flag the problem.
Blanchet has not detailed exactly how the breach occurred, and it remains unclear whether any of his followers were financially affected by the bitcoin content posted while the account was under hacker control. With the account now back in his hands, the Bloc leader is expected to resume his usual social media activity, though the episode will likely prompt renewed conversations among MPs and party staff across Ottawa and beyond about tightening up account security protocols.
Source: CBC News
