Who is Dell Cameron? Twitter bans journalist over Matt Walsh phone hack report

On Wednesday, April 19, Dell Cameron was permanently banned on Twitter after reporting about a phone hack targeting Matt Walsh, a right-wing commentator with the Daily Wire. According to The Daily Beast, Cameron's article violated Twitter rules that ban the distribution of hacked material.

Dell Cameron's report covered events that occurred on Tuesday, April 18, when a hacker began accessing Matt Walsh's email, text messages, and Twitter account. Walsh is notorious for his transphobic views and rejection of non-binary gender pronouns, and the hacker used his account to promote songs about homosexuality.

Additionally, the unidentified hacker made posts on Walsh's account that insulted icons associated with a right-wing fan base, such as Joe Rogan and Andrew Tate.

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Dell Cameron is well-known in the field of investigative journalism

Dell Cameron is a Texas-based journalist who has worked as a Senior Policy Writer for Wired since December 2022. His LinkedIn indicates that he began his journalism career in 2013, after a three-month stint volunteering as an assistant to Temo Figueroa, a former Obama campaign national field director.

In 2013, Cameron began working as a freelancer for Vice Media, specializing in Cybercrime, surveillance technology, and Hacktivism. Over the years, he has gained recognition as a leading investigative journalist in the field. He has received awards for Investigative Reporting and Overall Excellence from G/O Media.

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Further details of Cameron's account of the hack targeting Matt Walsh

The alleged hacker, who only identified themselves as "Doomed," claimed that the hacking was harmless. In an interview with Wired, they said:

“The intent was to make funny tweets, as Matt Walsh likes to ‘trigger’ people. We caused no financial harm, threatened anyone, [nor] ruined anything. (It was just) a few silly words on social media.”

According to Dell Cameron's Wired article, the hackers also claimed that they did not have any interest in Walsh's private information. They said that while they did gain access to various accounts, they were only interested in making posts on Walsh's Twitter, and have since signed out.

Hemal Jhaveri, the managing editor of Wired, demanded that Twitter reinstate Cameron's account, as his article did not contain the hacked material. While many have claimed that Cameron solicited stolen data, Jhaveri said that this was untrue. The managing editor argued that Cameron had a right to tell the story behind the hacking.

Jhaveri wrote in a statement to Forbes:

“Neither Dell’s story nor his Twitter feed contained hacked materials. We do not believe his account violated Twitter’s policy. We have not received any further explanation from Twitter and our attempts to reach Twitter’s press office were met with the customary poop emoji. We ask that the account be reinstated, and that Twitter provide an explanation.”

Twitter has not responded to Jhaveri's statement on the matter.