Twitter Announcements of Celebrity Deaths False

6/29/2009
Monica Burton
Celebrity Twitter accounts have been hacked in the wake of actual deaths in the celebrity community.

Britney Spears was the latest victim of a Twitter hack over the weekend, along with Ellen DeGeneres.

MTV.com reports that hackers broke into Spears's and DeGeneres's Twitpic accounts and sent out fake messages, including one that said Britney was dead.

The message read, "Britney has passed today. It is a sad day for everyone. More news to come."

Twitpic is a Web-based messaging system not owned by Twitter that allows Twitter users to share pictures. The service was shut down briefly on Sunday after discovering a "vulnerability" in its mobile posting service, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Twitpic Inc. also said to disregard the message that falsely reported Spears's death.

According to Zap2It.com, false reports of Miley Cyrus's death were also posted to her Twitter. This is the second Internet death hoax for the "Hannah Montana" star. In November, someone hacked into Cyrus's YouTube account and posted a false video message.

"Miley died this morning after being hit by a drunk driver," the message said. "She always told us if anything ever happened to her then tell her loyal fans first before the public. R.I.P Miley, we'll never forget you!"

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