On Monday afternoon, the X account for Ford Motor Company appeared to have been hacked, as the account put out a slew of anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian posts. "Israel is a terrorist state," one post read. Two minutes before that, a post was put out reading "ALL EYES ON GAZA." There was also a post with a Palestinian flag.
While the posts no longer appear on the X account hours later, it still took a considerable amount of time before the company's account addressed the matter.
What’s going on here? pic.twitter.com/8LhAtlLysU
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) December 30, 2024
It took four hours for @ford to release a two-sentence statement with zero apology.
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) December 30, 2024
Something seems off. pic.twitter.com/4LM84cEklV
On Monday evening, a post was shared with a very brief statement about the incident, hours after the posts appeared, and after the apparent hack became a trending topic over X. Many posted their screenshots of the posts made, especially the one using the anti-Israel narrative to claim that "Israel is a terrorist state."
"Our X account was briefly compromised and three posts were made that were not authorized or posted by Ford. They do not represent the views of Ford Motor Company. Ford and X are investigating this breach," the post read.
— Ford Motor Company (@Ford) December 31, 2024
Mere minutes after the post was put out, there's already been over 100 replies, a number which has grown to over 400 replies approximately half an hour later.
Many took issue with the lack of an apology in such a post.
Dreadful statement... Who is managing your PR? No apology for the hurt this has caused - I was looking to buying the new Capri, but will find another marque.
— Ed Abrahamson 🎗️🇮🇱🇮🇪 (@abrahamson_ed) December 31, 2024
No apology to Israel and Jews around the world?
— Leon (@Leon94340686289) December 31, 2024
“We are sorry to the Jewish community.”
— Angela Van Der Pluym (@anjewla90) December 31, 2024
No? You can’t say that?
Companies founded by a notorious Antisemite and headquartered in Dearborn Michigan should really come up with a better apology to the Jewish community than this one. pic.twitter.com/qX9tkUVdQp
— Joel M. Petlin (@Joelmpetlin) December 31, 2024
Many others brought up founder Henry Ford in their replies.
Even the Henry Ford website acknowledges his antisemitism, and it was also a topic discussed on PBS' "American Experience." Earlier this year, the Museum of Jewish Heritage had a virtual event on "The History of Antisemitism: Henry Ford." History.com also put out a piece on "How American Icon Henry Ford Fostered Anti‑Semitism," from 2021, which was updated last year.
Henry Ford is smiling from the grave with those tweets
— President K (@TheMrIncredibl3) December 31, 2024
henry was proud pic.twitter.com/SVD1eZ5xAr
— Abdo (@AbdoPeak) December 31, 2024
Before Ford's brief statement was put out, the StopAntisemitism X account also referenced Ford, pointing to him as their "Jew-hating founder." The screenshot of the three posts to X was a quoted repost of their post from April, expressing concerns about antisemitic employees.
"But the reality isn’t funny—Ford has ignored multiple antisemitic employees we’ve exposed, effectively greenlighting centuries-old Jew hatred within its walls," their quoted repost also read.
It’d almost be ironic to call @Ford's hack a “light nod” to its Jew-hating founder, Henry Ford. But the reality isn’t funny—Ford has ignored multiple antisemitic employees we’ve exposed, effectively greenlighting centuries-old Jew hatred within its walls. https://t.co/t2EFoSu9i1 pic.twitter.com/vkejfSGPqX
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) December 30, 2024
Other than the statement, the most recent post is from Monday morning to do with the Ford F-Series. There were no posts on Saturday or Sunday, though there was one on last Friday, and one from the Friday before that. It does not appear that the company's X account is used all that often.
There tends to be a post per week, and other than the statement shared above, they've been about Ford products.