Uh oh, The Yorker’s website has been hacked and is redirecting users to a porn site

The website of student run media publication, The Yorker, has been corrupted, resulting in users being redirected to a pornographic website.

The Yorker’s webpage appears to be hidden on Google homepages when searched for, however links to The Yorker’s website currently active on their X (formally Twitter), Instagram and Facebook pages are currently redirecting users to a pornographic website, changeporn.com. So awkward.

Currently, the webpage is inaccessible and users cannot get onto it at all. Instead, the page has been replaced with numerous pages of adult content videos. No matter how you try and access the correct webpage, all links found on their social media lead to the same dodgy place.

That includes links found on The Yorker Arts X page, which also redirect users to the same site. So whoever hacked the page seemed to do a thorough job, at least.

A user on X came across the error and Tweeted that she has taken links to the site off of her professional portfolio. I mean, I’m not sure anyone would want that on their LinkedIn so fair enough.

While The Yorker’s X account hasn’t Tweeted or been active since 2016, links found in the page’s bio are also corrupted. Tagging the University of York Students’ Union, the user has also requested that The Yorker advise others to do the same however YUSU has denied ownership of The Yorker and said that the York based publication is not and has never been a YUSU group. Phew.

While not owned by the University of York, The Yorker’s Instagram page describes the organisation as a “media publication based at the University of York providing news, features and reviews of campus and city life.” Nothing seems to have been done by The Yorker so far in terms of damage control – I for one am excited for its X account to come out of hibernation for the apology Tweet.

The Yorker describes itself on LinkedIn as a “leading independent student media company” with “no political or campus affiliations”, meaning The Yorker’s “cannot be censored by the student union”. And thank god for that, as I’m pretty sure this would be the quickest way to get yourself bollocked by the uni.

After the midweek jump scare of The Yorker’s webpage today, it’s fair to say I will be turning SafeSearch on indefinitely. Halloween might be over but still, I’m fairly spooked.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Uni of York campus shuttle route changes after ‘near miss incident’

• Uni of York updates protest guidance to reduce placing protesters under ‘disciplinary action’ 

• Students have protested over presence of weapons companies at Uni of York’s career fare