Australian Federal Police (AFP) commissioner Andrew Colvin has confirmed the Twitter account of health minister Greg Hunt was not hacked to like a porn tweet, and has warned people to be more aware of who has access to their social media accounts.
In Senate Estimates on Wednesday, Colvin confirmed what the AFP had told BuzzFeed News earlier this month, that the AFP discontinued the investigation after determining that "no criminality had occurred".
BuzzFeed News reported in January that Hunt had called in the AFP to investigate why the official Twitter account of the health minister had liked a tweet from a porn account last December.
Colvin confirmed in estimates that no crime had occurred and the account had not been hacked. His comments about the case suggested that someone who had access to Hunt's account may have been behind the liking of a porn tweet.
"I will say though, senator, that I think social media hygiene is an issue that we all need to be conscious of," Colvin told Greens senator Nick McKim. "And that is about who has access to your Twitter account, how many people have access, do you know who has access to your account? I will leave it at that."
The AFP did not make a formal request to Twitter for assistance in this case, but AFP officers did seek some information from Twitter about the case, Colvin confirmed.
Documents obtained by BuzzFeed News revealed that two to five AFP officers had been assigned to the case, which the AFP classified as an "essential priority" and one of "high value" to the AFP.
The AFP was also asked to investigate whether US ambassador Joe Hockey's Twitter account was also hacked in liking a tweet critical of the prime minister, and the AFP confirmed this week that no investigation had been launched as the AFP was still considering the referral from Hockey.