Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne has blamed hackers for his Twitter account’s liking of a gay porn site.

“I was hacked overnight!” Mr Pyne tweeted this morning, noting he had been asleep at 2:00am when the “like” occurred.

The activity on his Twitter account was pointed out on the social media site by other users including Australians living overseas.

He has since removed the “like” on the pornographic image.

As Defence Industry Minister, Mr Pyne usually uses his Twitter account to discuss military hardware or sometimes to promote his media appearances.

In his tweet this morning, he suggested a potential motive for the issue overnight was, “Maybe they are making mischief over the plebiscite?” referring to the result of the national survey on allowing gay marriage.

Earlier this year, Border Force officials were asked to explain why Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg’s Twitter account liked a pornographic tweet.

United States Republican politician Ted Cruz was also forced to explain a “like” that caused a pornographic post to briefly appear on his Twitter feed in September.

The senator and 2016 presidential candidate said several aides had access to the account and one inadvertently liked a post from the account @SexuallPosts, which contained a two-minute clip from a pornographic film.

“It was a staffing issue and it was inadvertent. It was a mistake. It was not a deliberate action,” Mr Cruz told reporters at the time.

Although he has since deleted it, the post was live on his page for half an hour and @SexuallPosts has since updated its Twitter description to say: “Follow for the Same Porn @TedCruz Watches”.

https://twitter.com/cpyne/status/930873406957928448

– ABC