The Australian National University (ANU) has contacted authorities about a possible hacking incident after its vice-chancellor’s account liked a number of “highly offensive” LinkedIn posts about Gaza and Julie Bishop.
One of the posts liked by Genevieve Bell’s account was an inflammatory post about Gaza, while another made negative comments about Bishop, the ANU chancellor and a former foreign minister.
A spokesperson for ANU said it was made aware on Wednesday morning that Bell’s LinkedIn account had been “compromised”.
“The LinkedIn account had ‘liked’ certain posts that the VC had never seen,” the spokesperson said.
“Some of the liked content was highly offensive and objectionable to the VC and which are also inconsistent with the values set by the Council for ANU.
“We take this type of behaviour seriously.”
An internal investigation was under way, and the matter had been referred to the Australian Cyber Security Centre.
The senior reporter for the Saturday Paper, Rick Morton, posted to Bluesky on Wednesday afternoon that he had notified ANU about a series of questionable posts liked by Bell’s account.
“The ‘likes’ were in among normal posts the VC account had liked or reacted to about the work of the university and her former and beloved school, Cybernetics, so it’s a very strange one,” he wrote.
“I look forward to what the investigation finds.”
The incident comes amid a restructure at ANU to cut about $100m from staff costs via its Renew ANU plan with the goal for a break-even operating result for 2026.
It also follows a damning report on the institution’s culture released late last month.
The independent review into ANU’s former College of Health and Medicine, led by Prof Christine Nixon, outlined allegations of sexism, racism and entrenched disrespect in the now defunct college, described as sobering reading by Bell.
In a statement on Tuesday updating staff on the university’s finances, Bell acknowledged it had been a “really hard period” for the community.
“I know that each of us cares for this place and for our colleagues and students,” she wrote.
“And I know we are trying to have conversations as respectfully and as empathetically as we can because every conversation has ripples to the people and teams they impact.
“And I know we have so much work ahead of us – with the Nixon report, with the changes we are making, with the complexity of the world changing around us that we have to keep navigating.”
