Did anybody really think this was a funny idea?
The US Secret Service has launched an investigation after hackers posted on the Fox News Twitter account that president Barack Obama was dead.
The hackers wrote six tweets, reporting that Mr Obama had been shot to death in Iowa and the gunman had not been apprehended.
The messages remained online for more than two hours before they were taken down.
Fox News says the tweets were "malicious" and "false" and says it will conduct an investigation of its own. ...
"Those reports are incorrect, of course, and the president is spending the July 4 holiday with his family," Fox News said.
The White House declined to comment but the Secret Service, which is charged with protecting the president, said it was looking into the incident.
It looks like a person/group calling themselves the "5CR1PT K1DD3S" (the Script Kiddies?) claimed credit for the hack, as the FoxNews Politics account temporarily appeared thusly:
The Secret Service is now investigating the 'prank,' as the pranksters involved the safety of the President in their completely lame, tasteless, inappropriate attempt to discredit Fox News. Somebody's in trooouuubbblllle.