When Fox News Star Sean Hannity’s Twitter account mysteriously disappeared in the wee hours of 1.27.18, conspiracy theories flooded the Internet, fueled in part by Julian Assange calling attention to the odd glitch on his own Twitter page:
The most watched TV host in the U.S., @SeanHannity has his Twitter account (3.3 million followers) mysteriously disappear after tweeting "Submission Form 1649" https://t.co/jIw0Lq5K1m pic.twitter.com/Op3b2h24Zu
— Julian Assange ⌛ (@JulianAssange) January 27, 2018
By midday, Twitter had let a few news outlets know that the account had been briefly compromised and the company was working to restore Sean Hannity to Twitter. The implication seems to be a hack of sort occurred as opposed to the previous occasion when Donald Trump’s account was intentionally removed by a Twitter employee, but that is yet to be verified.
Meanwhile, conspiracy theorists worked hard to decipher Hannity’s last tweet, or rather it now appears the hacker’s last tweet, which said “Form Submission 1649.” Internet sleuths wanted to know if there was some sort of hidden meaning to the phrase–suppositions ranging from Hannity being “falsely imprisoned” to something to do with the year 1649.
And, of course, for many, it was just a good opportunity to poke fun at Hannity himself.
