The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has launched a formal investigation into how the Twitter account of health minister Greg Hunt liked a tweet from a porn account.
In early December, Hunt's Twitter account liked a porn tweet, but Hunt said it wasn't him or his staff.
"This was clearly a hack and has therefore been referred to the AFP," a Hunt spokeswoman told the Daily Telegraph.
On Thursday, the AFP confirmed that after going through the evaluation process, the matter was now being investigated.
"The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is investigating a referral from the Hon. Greg Hunt MP in relation to the alleged unauthorised access of his Twitter account," the spokesperson said in a statement.
"The matter was formally accepted for investigation on Tuesday, 19 December 2017. It would not be appropriate to provide further details while the investigation is underway."
Just days later the Australian ambassador to the US, Joe Hockey, also referred a Twitter like to the AFP for investigation. This tweet was critical of former Liberal party colleague and prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Oh my goodness #auspol #qanda
The AFP spokesperson said it is not yet investigating this like, stating it was still being evaluated after the AFP received the referral on December 15.
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection brought in the Australian Commission For Law Enforcement Integrity to investigate who accidentally or otherwise liked a porn tweet from the official Twitter account of the Australian Border Force commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg.
Emails released under Australia's freedom of information law show the chief of staff to the commissioner seeking a quick response from the department when the tweet like began being shared on social media.
The media team quickly compared the incident to the Twitter account of US politician Ted Cruz – which liked a porn tweet – and said none of the social media team was to blame for it.
Quaedvlieg remains on paid leave amid an unrelated investigation over potential abuse of power related to the hiring of his girlfriend in the department. Fairfax has reported he has earnt more than $360,000 in the seven months he has been on leave.