Sexually explicit footage appeared on digital LED billboards in Egypt, Malaysia, Brazil, and reportedly Iraq and China on Thursday. Following these incidents, a group on Telegram claimed responsibility for an operation it described as simple enough that “anyone with two brain cells” could have pulled it off.

The most prominent confirmed incident unfolded on a large electronic billboard overlooking the 26th of July Axis in Giza, one of Egypt’s busiest highways connecting Cairo to its western suburbs. Drivers stopped their cars to film as the screen broadcast pornographic video overlaid with the text “Leaked by: Ch, 19ylegal never and nivex” and the Telegram handle @LeakersGov, according to CNN.

A massive digital billboard on one of Cairo’s busiest highways was hacked to display pornographic footage, shocking drivers and prompting motorists to stop and record the scene.

According to CNN, the incident took place on Egypt’s 26th of July Axis, with the hackers displaying… pic.twitter.com/YFGp8H8rJB

Egypt’s Interior Ministry said the screen belonged to local advertising firm Al Arabia United, which had contracted with an unnamed international company whose website was subjected to a cyberattack that caused the unauthorized footage to also be broadcast “in several other countries, simultaneously.” The ministry said legal proceedings had been initiated and that the international company suspended broadcasts. Al Arabia United stated it detected unauthorized access by an unknown party to one screen, shut it down as a precaution, and was investigating the incident with authorities.

The Cairo Report identified Al Arabia United as an Egyptian-Saudi joint venture established in 2022 by United Media Services (the media arm of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, which controls more than 40 companies) and Saudi-listed Arabian Contracting Services Co.

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