I’ve just got off the phone with the guy who hacked the New Conservative Instagram today. It turns out he’s had access for months - he was given the password by the party after pretending to be deputy leader Eliot Ikilei on social media. #nzpol

He’s made many posts over the last few weeks, including posts with quotes by Mao Zedong and references to video game Fallout, all of which have gone unnoticed by the party. The posts have used the proper branding and looked legitimate.

He says he received the password after making a fake Instagram account pretending to be deputy leader Elliot Ikilei. He amassed fake followers, DMed the official NC page and asked for the password. It was given to him.

The party only noticed the hack tonight when he posted the party logo with a pride flag shade. He says he “can’t believe” he got away with it for this long.

For an insight into how well orchestrated this was, the hacker spent months juggling passwords and linking accounts. This is really elaborate.