A new chicken takeaway and restaurant that’s set to open in Hitchin has issued a public statement after they were the victim of an alleged social media hack, which is currently being investigated by the police.
Beds police will now investigate a case of malicious communications at Chicken George, after the takeaway alleged their Instagram account was hacked over the weekend.
A post on George Floyd – whose death has sparked global Black Lives Matter protests that have reached Hitchin and Stevenage – was shared on Chicken George’s official Instagram page on Saturday afternoon.
A picture of Floyd, with a list of prison sentences he is said to have served and allegations that he was using drugs at the time of his death, was shared to Chicken George’s Instagram story on Saturday afternoon.
In full, the post claimed: “When he was killed, he was high on meth getting ready to drive a car and possibly kill your kid. Too bad the pregnant woman didn’t have a gun.”
The story was online for around 20 minutes before it was taken down.
On Sunday, Chicken George posted a public apology, saying they “completely understand the anger and shock at this post” and promising to look into the situation.
They said: “Yesterday, our Instagram account was hacked and an absolutely disgusting image with false and inflammatory text was posted for around 20 minutes.
“We completely understand the anger and shock at this post and we can assure you that we share everyone’s anger.
“Since we were founded in 1985 we have always and will always support every community and will never stand for any type of discrimination.
“We deeply apologise for the understandable offence this post has caused. We are absolutely devastated.”
Yesterday, the company released images of a cyber security company’s report into malicious activity on the account. According to the document, investigators from an unamed company found “a number of data breaches” on the Instagram account on Saturday.
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