Apple News users receive racist messages after Fast Company hack

New York (CNN Business) — Financial news publication Fast Company took the extraordinary step Tuesday night of shutting down its website after the outlet said it was hacked, resulting in a pair of obscene push notifications containing racist language being sent to users. Apple News subscribers.

A spokesperson for the publication told CNN in a statement that his “content management system account was hacked Tuesday night.”

“As a result, two obscene and racist push notifications were sent to our followers on Apple News within a minute of each other. The messages are vile and not in line with Fast Company’s content and ethics,” the statement said. “We are investigating the situation and have closed FastCompany.com until the situation has been resolved.”

The statement also said the hack was “apparently related” to a “hack of FastCompany.com that occurred this Sunday afternoon, when similar language appeared on the site’s home page and other pages. We shut down the site that afternoon.” and we restored it about two hours later.

“Fast Company is sorry that such abhorrent language has appeared on our platforms and in Apple News, and we apologize to anyone who saw it before it was removed,” the statement said.

People who tried to access the website were greeted by a 404 page on Tuesday night, indicating that the website was taken down entirely. It was unclear how long the site would be down.

Apple News also addressed the incident in a released statement. on his Twitter account.

“An incredibly offensive alert was sent by Fast Company, which has been hacked,” the company said. “Apple News has deactivated your channel.”

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the hack or how serious it was.