Authorities are investigating a prank targeting pedestrian crossings in northern California, where fake messages impersonating tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg were broadcasted. The audio feature has been disabled while investigations are ongoing.
Northern California Pedestrian Crossings Hacked with Jokes from Musk and Zuckerberg
Northern California Pedestrian Crossings Hacked with Jokes from Musk and Zuckerberg
Pedestrian crossings in Silicon Valley have been compromised, playing humorous audio messages mimicking Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
Pedestrian crossings in several areas of northern California have been compromised, playing humorous audio messages that mock the tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. City officials in Silicon Valley are currently investigating the situation and have disabled the audio feature on these crossings, which usually provide instructions to "walk" or "wait."
The unexpected messages were first reported over the weekend in cities such as Palo Alto, Redwood City, and Menlo Park—locations notably close to Zuckerberg's Meta campus. One message impersonating Musk joked about buying passing pedestrians a Tesla Cybertruck if they became his friends. Another fake message from Zuckerberg light-heartedly introduced himself, claiming "real ones call me The Zuck."
As of now, it remains unclear who orchestrated this prank or how they managed to gain access to the pedestrian crossings. Officials in affected areas acknowledged that engineers are currently assessing the incident. Pedro Quintana, a spokesperson for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), reported that around 10 crossings within Menlo Park and Palo Alto had been impacted, prompting the temporary switch to a timer system while disabling the buttons that authorized the fake messages.
The messages described a range of humorous interactions within Silicon Valley, where both billionaires operate. For example, one fake greeting in Musk's style welcomed individuals to Palo Alto, home to Tesla operations, jokingly stating, "You know, they say money can't buy happiness and... I guess that's true. God knows I've tried."
Messages impersonating Zuckerberg included themes of integrating artificial intelligence “into every facet of your conscious experience.” Neither Musk nor Zuckerberg has yet commented on the incident.
The city of Palo Alto confirmed separately to media outlets that at least 12 of their pedestrian crossings encountered similar tampering. Meghan Horrigan-Taylor, a representative from the city, mentioned that city staff were alerted to the issue on Saturday after it was discovered that the voice features were malfunctioning. Officials suspect the tampering might have taken place the previous Friday. She assured that the rest of the traffic signals were checked thoroughly and found to be unaffected, isolating the problem to the compromised crossings.
