Meta AI chatbot enabled hackers to access others' Instagram accounts

BBC News · 🇬🇧 public United Kingdom · Jun 02, 2026 · 640 words · By Liv McMahon

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What to know about Meta AI chatbot enabled hackers to access others' Instagram accounts

Instagram AI chatbot tricked by hackers to give access to others' accounts Instagram says it has resolved an issue which saw hackers trick its AI support tool into giving them access to other users' accounts.

Claims checked 13

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center100%

Right0%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Why it matters

According to claims shown in screenshots and videos shared on social media, Instagram's AI chatbot allowed users to "hijack" accounts in recent days.

Common ground

Hackers could reportedly change passwords for other accounts by faking their location and then asking the AI to change the emails associated with them.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Meta AI chatbot enabled hackers to access others' Instagram accounts?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that among those claiming to have been impacted were security researcher and former Meta employee, Jane Manchun Wong?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98rzr72dpyo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 13 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 7

schedule Pending 3

help Insufficient Evidence 2

info Single Source 1

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Claim 1: “among those claiming to have been impacted were security researcher and former Meta employee, Jane Manchun Wong.”

CORROBORATED

Web search results confirm that Jane Manchun Wong, a security researcher and former Meta employee, claimed to be impacted by the exploit.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The like button on the social networking website Facebook was first enabled on February 9, 2009. The like button enables users to easily interact with status updates, comments, photos and videos, link…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_like_button

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Jane Manchun Wong (born April 13, 1994) is a Hong Kong technology blogger and app researcher best known for discovering unreleased features of online services such as Facebook or Instagram. In Decembe…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Manchun_Wong

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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 2, 2026 ... But among those claiming to have been impacted were security researcher and former Meta employee, Jane Manchun Wong. Wong, who previously worked ...
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98rzr72dpyo

+ 2 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 2: “An independent body which hears disputes from social media users in the EU said last week that Meta virtually never replies when it raises cases of people who say they have been wrongly banned from their accounts.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 3: “They were also shown to be using a virtual private network (VPN) service to pretend to be in the real account holder's location.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to confirm the use of a VPN in the specific demonstration mentioned.

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Claim 4: “"This issue has been resolved and we are securing impacted accounts," Meta spokesperson Andy Stone told users in a statement on X.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm that Meta spokesperson Andy Stone stated on X that the issue was resolved and impacted accounts were being secured.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In the field of artificial intelligence (AI), alignment aims to steer AI systems toward a person's or group's intended goals, preferences, or ethical principles. An AI system is considered aligned if …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_alignment

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — AI safety is an interdisciplinary field focused on preventing accidents, misuse, or other harmful consequences arising from artificial intelligence systems. It encompasses AI alignment (which aims to …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_safety

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Peter Andreas Thiel ( ; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and conservative political activist. A co-founder of PayPal (1998), Palantir Technologies (2003), a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 5: “Tech news outlet 404media reported that posts about the vulnerability coincided "with a series of high-profile Instagram account takeovers" including a verified account used by Barack Obama when he was in the White House.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources report that 404media identified the takeover of a verified account used by Barack Obama during his presidency as coinciding with this vulnerability.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — An election will be held in the U.S. state of California on November 3, 2026, to elect the next governor of California. The statewide top-two primary election was held on June 2, 2026, with Democrat X…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_California_gubernatorial_…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Deepfakes (a portmanteau of 'deep learning' and 'fake') are images, videos, or audio that have been edited or generated using artificial intelligence, AI-based tools or audio-video editing software. T…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepfake

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Marne Lynn Levine (born 1970) is an American businesswoman. She was the chief business officer at Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.) until February 2023. Previously, she was the first chief oper…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marne_Levine

+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 6: “It also recently made huge cuts to its workforce amid billions of dollars of spending on AI.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 7: “Instagram says it has resolved an issue which saw hackers trick its AI support tool into giving them access to other users' accounts.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent sources (WION, HelpNet Security, and other web search results) confirm that Instagram resolved a vulnerability where hackers tricked an AI support tool to gain account access.

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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 2, 2026 ... Instagram has resolved a security flaw after hackers reportedly exploited a vulnerability linked to Meta's AI support systems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGpXGUrXw5o

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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 2, 2026 ... Instagram says it has resolved an issue which saw hackers trick its AI support tool into giving them access to other users' accounts.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98rzr72dpyo

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Jun 8, 2026 ... According to the company, a vulnerability in High Touch Support (HTS) allowed unauthorized parties to perform password resets on Instagram ...
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/06/08/instagram-ai-supp…

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Claim 8: “The former US president's account reportedly posted pro-Iran content before it was recovered.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources report that the @obamawhitehouse account posted unauthorized content, including pro-Iran/anti-Trump content and AI-generated images, before recovery.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Barack Obama "Hope" poster is an image of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama, designed by American artist Shepard Fairey. The image was widely described as iconic and came to represent Obama…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_"Hope"_poster

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Peter Joseph Souza (born December 31, 1954) is an American photojournalist, the former chief official White House photographer for Presidents of the United States Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama and th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Souza

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Barack Obama won the 2008 United States presidential election on November 4, 2008. During his campaign, he became the first presidential candidate of a major party to utilize social networking sites (…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_use_by_Barack_Oba…

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 9: “In a response to another post on X, Stone said claims the vulnerability was used to hack into accounts of world leaders were "totally false".”

CORROBORATED

Web search results confirm that Andy Stone responded on X stating that claims regarding the hacking of world leaders' accounts were 'totally false'.

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+ 3 more evidence sources

help

Claim 10: “One, shared by cybersecurity researcher Dark Web Informer on X, showed someone searching for the username of an account they wished to gain access to as part of Instagram's recovery process.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to confirm the existence or content of a video shared by 'Dark Web Informer' on X.

schedule

Claim 11: “After selecting the account they wanted to access, they sent a message to Instagram's Meta AI support assistant asking to link a new email to the account and send it a verification code.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 12: “Hackers could reportedly change passwords for other accounts by faking their location and then asking the AI to change the emails associated with them.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results explicitly state that hackers could change passwords by faking their location and asking the AI to change associated emails.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Jun 2, 2026 ... Hackers could reportedly change passwords for other accounts by faking their location and then asking the AI to change the emails associated ...
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98rzr72dpyo

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Jun 1, 2026 ... Instagram is notoriously bad human support. If you've ever lost access to an account, you would understand the pain, so Meta built an AI ...
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZDwTn_hDCc/?hl=en

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web search NEUTRAL — 6 days ago ... Hackers could reportedly change passwords for other accounts by faking their location and then asking the AI to change the emails associated ...
https://www.cybersecurityintelligence.com/blog/ai-chatbot-us…

info

Claim 13: “Wong, who previously worked at Meta as a security engineer, said in a post on X her Instagram password was "changed without my knowledge"”

SINGLE SOURCE

While the general claim that Jane Manchun Wong was impacted is corroborated, the specific detail about her post on X regarding her password being 'changed without my knowledge' is only mentioned in the primary reporting context and not independently detailed in the other provided search results (which returned irrelevant 'Jane' software/store results).

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Jane is an online platform for health and wellness practitioners that makes it simple to book, chart, schedule, bill and get paid.
https://jane.app/

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Find reviews and explore the best cannabis dispensaries near me with Jane. Browse dispensary menus and order for delivery or pick up.
https://www.iheartjane.com/

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Why Shop Jane? Save Big With Daily Deals, find up to 65% off boutique products every day.
https://veryjane.com/

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.