Photo: AP
This week, an unverified Twitter account claiming to be “McDonald’s Hong Kong,” a real branch of the global fast-food giant, went mad.
The account was apparently created in October 2016, and initially posted just a few tweets that seemed like legitimate promotional material advertising the chain’s offerings of Big Macs and spicy chicken sandwiches.
https://twitter.com/NotMcDonaldsHK/status/790273808628322304
https://twitter.com/NotMcDonaldsHK/status/794305357527076865
https://twitter.com/NotMcDonaldsHK/status/811307295523082241
https://twitter.com/NotMcDonaldsHK/status/881223296305516544
But then, something odd happened: The official, verified McDonald’s Corp. Twitter account posted a video of a woman touting the Hong Kong branch’s bakery offerings, tagging the first account.
**** MANUAL CHECK REQUIRED –> https://twitter.com/statuses/869803987524038656
The “McDonald’s Hong Kong” account responded this week, writing “this bitch freakin out about cheesecake while kids out here McDying. relax”.
**** MANUAL CHECK REQUIRED –> https://twitter.com/statuses/889290491417722881
It soon returned to posting various promotional images of McDonald’s offerings in Hong Kong.
https://twitter.com/NotMcDonaldsHK/status/889291319650242561
But over the course of the last week, the account began inserting less-than-subtle messages between the promotional tweets. They told a tale of suicidal ideation, glimpses of a shattered family life and the implication someone, possibly McDonald’s Hong Kong, had kidnapped the tweeter’s son.
https://twitter.com/NotMcDonaldsHK/status/890680971653206016
The pace only picked up this weekend.
https://twitter.com/NotMcDonaldsHK/status/891301944534454272
https://twitter.com/NotMcDonaldsHK/status/891339228965195776
https://twitter.com/NotMcDonaldsHK/status/891344091501428736
https://twitter.com/NotMcDonaldsHK/status/891348476008812544
https://twitter.com/NotMcDonaldsHK/status/891349563788980225
The account has begun picking up hundreds of followers at lightning speed.
In a statement, McDonald’s told Gizmodo they had nothing to do with “McDonald’s Hong Kong” and said the fun would soon be over.
“This is not a McDonald’s Twitter account but one that is impersonating a verified account,” spokesperson Terri Hickey wrote. “We are taking steps to have it promptly taken down.”
While the account previously used the handle “Mc_DonaldsHK” and contained no warning it was a fake, it has since been updated to “NotMcDonaldsHK” and to have the words “Parody Account” in its bio.
Since the account was registered and sending out McDonald’s-themed tweets long before it was tagged by the official, verified McDonald’s corporate account, it would appear a prankster managed to luck out on a long-con hoax.
McDonald’s just launched a delivery service in the US, and its very real Hong Kong branch is in the middle of an upscale “McDonald’s Next” rebranding. In March, another McDonald’s Twitter account called Trump a “disgusting excuse of a President” and added “also you have tiny hands,” but the company later claimed it was hacked.