A certain tweet from the official account of the Department of Health earned international attention over the weekend.
This gained traction after the government agency claimed it was already “closely monitoring” its account following a “technical glitch.”
While not appearing on its Twitter page, a post about ethereum (or ETH) was spotted by some users on the platform.
The tweet also appears if one runs a Google search of the keywords “eth DOH.”
The tweet, shared at 4:06 p.m. on April 22, Saturday, reads:
eth should honestly pump to $4000 by next month.
the doh will pump it (folded hands emoji)
It has already earned over 1.1 million views, 2,364 likes, 485 retweets, and 837 quote tweets so far.
The tweet is still accessible as of this writing.
However, if one clicks on a response under its Twitter thread, the post itself will be marked “This Tweet is unavailable.”
Other Twitter users claim to have caught other tweets from the state-run account marked as “promoted.”
phillipines DOH lit pic.twitter.com/YOVu1gDxPs
— dres 🫠🔜 (@notdresmars) April 23, 2023
A “promoted” tweet refers to an ad on the platform which is an ordinary post purchased by advertisers who wanted a wider reach or to spark engagement from its existing followers.
They are labeled when an advertiser pays for their placement on the platform.
Meanwhile, some online users from the international community took notice of the DOH’s unusual tweet.
“It’s more fun in the Philippines,” CavalRe founder Eric Forgy commented in a quote tweet, referencing the famous tourism tagline of the country.
“Is this medical advice?” user @coinbureau commented.
“DoH pumping ETH on a paid promo?” artist @KWM_Neko wrote.
Other online users claim it is related to cryptocurrency.
“This is crypto adoption,” crypto enthusiast user @jacosalemalexis wrote.
Some tagged the government agency in the replies thread for awareness.
“@DOHgovph, you still have a promoted ad running, might wanna fix it,” user @heyyovico commented.
Crypto related?
Ethereum is defined as a decentralized global software platform powered by blockchain technology.
Blockchain technology is best known for its crucial role in cryptocurrency systems for maintaining a secure and decentralized record of transactions.
Ethereum is also known as the basis for the cryptocurrency ether (ETH). It is the blockchain of choice for developers and enterprises creating technology based upon it to change how many industries operate and how people go about their daily lives.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency is any form of currency that exists digitally or virtually and uses cryptography to secure transactions.
These don’t have a central issuing or regulating authority.
DOH advisory
The health agency issued a public advisory on the same day the unusual tweet was posted on its official Twitter account.
“Please be informed that the due to a technical glitch in Twitter, which was also experienced by some entities and organizations globally, the Department of Health’s (DOH) official [T]witter account was renamed to ‘Vela Exchange’ for a short period,” it said hours after the unusual tweet.
“The DOH has swiftly acted upon the matter. Hence, our official account has already been reverted to ‘Department of Health’, and is now being closely monitored by our official platform managers. Thank you,” it added.
Even the advisory posted by the health agency appeared to behave unusually.
While the posts appeared to be shown as a Twitter thread, clicking on the first tweet itself does not show the agency’s second response.
It can also be noticed that the first tweet has a “Hidden Replies” option. Clicking this leads users to tweets mentioning that the health agency’s account is still “running ads.”
Clicking the DOH’s second advisory tweet, however, marked its first tweet “unavailable” despite the two being posted as a thread.
Last Saturday, the DOH denied that its Twitter account was hacked.
“No, the DOH platform managers have full control over the DOH platforms,” it was quoted as saying before.
“This is why we were able to immediately identify the bug. Rest assured that we will continue to monitor all our platforms,” the agency added.
Last week, calls for accountability from the government were raised after a cybersecurity researcher reported that over a million private records from the country’s law enforcement agencies were found to have an unprotected database.
VPNMentor reported that over 1.2 million records of employees and applicants of different Philippine government agencies such as the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Special Action Force Operations Management Division, and the Civil Service Commission, were left vulnerable.
RELATED: Calls for accountability raised after reported law enforcement personnel data breach
