The chances of your Instagram, X, Facebook, Amazon, Threads, Rumble, Twitch or other accounts getting taken over by spammy bots and data-stealing thieves have never been higher. So, don’t sit there all smug, thinking, "Oh, Kim, that could never happen to me!"

Freebie alert: I’m giving away my latest ebook, "50 Smart Ways to Use AI" (a $9.95 value). Hope it helps you!

A lot of the advice you find online about hacked social media sites and profiles is just plain wrong or, worse, leads to a scammer who promises to get your account back but really just steals your money. Keep reading for advice you can trust.

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Step 1: Sign out on every device

It’s alarming to think about someone else’s hands all over your social media account, posting crap on your page. Fully sign out of your account on every device you’re logged in.

Pro tip: Under the Settings section in every social app, you’ll see a list of all (or the most recent) devices signed in. On Facebook, for instance, just click your profile picture > Settings & privacy > Activity log > Where you’re logged in.

This step will often boot more casual hackers piggybacking on automatic sign-ins. They’ll get asked for passwords they don’t have and won’t be able to log in again, so they can’t spam your peeps. But don’t stop here!

Step 2: Change your password

Log into your account on one device and change your password. The account or settings page will have that option, like here on Instagram. If hackers did get your password (maybe from a massive data breach), this will lock them out.

You know the drill: Replace your old password with a strong one. Make it at least 12 characters with a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Better yet, have a password manager come up with a great one for you.

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Step 3: Report the hack

Now, hackers should be mostly locked out of your socials. Before you take a deep breath, though, report the hack. This way, your social media platform can help you roll back your hacked messages and freeze your account until you’re sure everything is safe.

Account hacking is so bad, some social media sites have dedicated pages to report the problem. Here’s Facebook’s hacked page, and, no surprise, there’s also an Instagram hacked page and X’s questionnaire.

Step 4: Check for surprise changes

No one likes cleaning the house, but it has to be done. Jump over to your account settings and check for any funny business, like:

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Step 5: One last thing

Phew, you’re almost done. Be sure to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for your account. You can get a code via text, but it’s more secure to use an authenticator app. Steps here if you’re new to the 2FA game.

FYI, you can only get 2FA on X if you pay for its $8 monthly Premium service. Annoying.

If you run into any trouble with these steps …

… Or if a hacker got your account suspended, call the social media platform. Keep in mind these companies don’t care about you, so they really don’t want to help you. You’ll have to be persistent. Here’s a list of popular tech numbers. Do not search on Google for these phone numbers.

Reminder, get my newest ebook "50 Smart Ways to Use AI" free right now.

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President Biden doesn’t appear to be resting during his final weekend in the White House. Instead, he’s pushing for a new amendment to the Constitution that would make the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) "the law of the land."

In a statement released by the White House, Biden demanded that the United States "affirm and protect women’s full equality once and for all."

While his point is clear in the statement, a post on his official X account had users mocking the president. The post references the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. However, the US Constitution only has 27 amendments, the last of which was ratified in 1992.

In a post on X calling the ERA the "law of the land," implying that it is already part of the Constitution, which is not the case. Social media users were quick to point this out, with some calling the president a "dictator."

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Others online also brought up Biden’s past rhetoric about Trump being a "threat to democracy," accusing the president of trying to "declare" an amendment into existence.

Citing the American Bar Association in the statement, Biden argued that the ERA has "cleared all necessary hurdles to formally be added to the Constitution." Biden added that he agreed with "the ABA and with leading constitutional scholars that the Equal Rights Amendment has become part of our Constitution." However, despite Biden’s argument, the National Archives disagreed.

In its own December statement on the ERA, the National Archives said that "at this time, the Equal Rights Amendment cannot be certified as part of the Constitution due to established legal, judicial, and procedural decisions."

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The ERA, a proposed amendment to the constitution that would guarantee "equal rights under the law" to all Americans regardless of sex. Its latest iteration was a rapid response by New York Democrats to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization decision in June 2022.

"It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people. In keeping with my oath and duty to Constitution and country, I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: the 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex," Biden said in the White House statement.

The assertion triggered a community note, which read, "Readers added context they thought people might want to know. The Archivist of the United States, charged with officially publishing ratified amendments, has confirmed that the ERA was not ratified and based that analysis on binding legal precedent. There is no 28th Amendment."

A spokesperson for the Biden administration did not respond to a request for comment. 

Over the last few years, America’s divide over women’s rights has grown larger. Some celebrated the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, while others saw it as a fundamental attack on freedom. Additionally, the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports has turned into a heated debate about fairness and equality.  

Congressional Democrats’ use of X, formerly Twitter, has significantly dropped off in the years since Elon Musk took over the social media platform, a new report suggests.

Significantly more Republican lawmakers used X in 2024 than their Democratic colleagues, public affairs firm Quorum calculated. Of the top 20 most active accounts for members of Congress, just one – Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla. – hails from the left, at No. 15.

It’s a stark change even from Quorum’s 2023 report, which came out just over a year after Musk bought the site – at the time. The top 10 most active congressional accounts were nearly split evenly with six Republicans and four Democrats on the list. Now, they are all Republicans.

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Many on the left have decried Musk’s ownership of X, accusing him of using it to bolster President-elect Donald Trump and right-wing causes. But Musk and his allies have insisted that he is creating a more user-controlled experience that promotes free speech.

The report pointed to a 2023 survey that showed a stark decrease in Americans who identify as Democrats using the app.

"The use of X is on the decline among the general public after Elon Musk’s takeover — with Democrats driving the exodus, according to one survey conducted early last year," the report said.

"After looking at the data, it’s clear that the decline in usage isn’t just coming from the general public. Public officials, particularly those on the left, are also changing their social media habits."

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Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Pa., for example, was the most active Democratic lawmaker on X in 2023 before his post frequency fell sharply by 66% this year, the report said.

Activity on X accounts for California Reps. Robert Garcia and Ted Lieu, both Democrats, fell by 35% and 26%, respectively.

In 2024, the most frequently active X accounts were those for Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Republican lawmakers, as a whole, made up 54.4% of X posts by members of Congress in 2024, compared to 45.1% for Democrats.

In 2023, congressional Democrats made up 50.8% of lawmakers’ activity on X, compared to 48.8% being by Republicans, Quorum’s previous report said.

It’s worth noting that it’s standard practice for congressional lawmakers to hand control of either their professional or personal X accounts – frequently both – to their staff. 

But some lawmakers like Cruz and Roy, as well as the third-ranked most active X poster, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., are known for frequently engaging with other X users directly.

Frost, the lonely Democrat in the top 20 most frequent congressional X users of 2024, warned fellow liberals not to cede the popular app to Republicans, in an interview with Politico last month.

"If we leave X, it will help Elon with his goal of making the platform void of any progressive ideology or the way we think about the world," he said.