Did Hackers Really Hijack Fox News Ticker And Post Anti-Fox Messages?

"We are being lied to. Rightwingers are destroying the middle class and trying to kill our unions."

If you were strolling by Fox News headquarters on Sunday night, that might be the message you saw scrolling across the news ticker running outside the news outlets building. At least that's what one YouTube video claims.

The video purports to show hackers breaking into the Fox system and posting a string of anti-Fox news messages.

"Last night I hacked into the FoxNews news ticker on 6th avenue in NYC," the video's description, posted on May 30, says. "I accessed the Fox ticker basically to get your attention. Also because Fox deserves it: they're the 24/7 mouthpiece of the right wing. They are huge perpetuators of the big lie."

Here's the video making the rounds and purportedly showing the hack:

If it's true, it would be incredible. But according to Fox, it's not. TV Newser reports Fox says the video is a "hoax" and the ticker "was not hacked."

Still, that hasn't stopped the video's poster from doubling down. The video's description has been updated to reflect Fox's response, but it also now includes a promise to soon explain "how I did it," which "will hopefully prove it for all the naysayers."

Still, that seems unlikely. Gawker posted a series of points which it says probably show why it's a fake:

Firstly, fake "video hacks," in which bystanders seem to take control of a public electronic screen, are a growing trend. Secondly, while a few passersby in the video glance up at the hijacked ticker, none of them seem to react appropriately to seeing an anti-corporate political message scrolling out in front of the News Corp. headquarters. And thirdly, our guess is that the video was taken on or about May 9. A fragment of the normally functioning ticker visible in the video reads "...trucks may have problem with fuel tanks that could cause spills and fire." That language corresponds with an AP report about fuel tank troubles with the Ford F-150 that appeared on May 9. Which means that these people pulled off a really cool trick and then waited three weeks before announcing it by placing it anonymously on YouTube with no fanfare. Which would be odd.

If I were a betting man, I would put my money on a movie marketing campaign or something similar. At least that's what came about from the last big-screen hack video that went viral.