Matthew Keys, the deputy social media editor at Thomson Reuters who became closely associated with the hacking group Anonymous, has been fired.
Keys, a social media maven, reported the news on Twitter, writing: "Just got off the phone. Reuters has fired me, effective today. Our union will be filing a grievance. More soon."
This March Keys was accused by federal prosecutors of helping the hacking group Anonymous access The Los Angeles Times servers. Keys previously worked at Fox 40 in Sacramento, which like The Los Angeles Times, is owned by the Tribune company. He was charged with three counts related to hacking and faces up to 10 years in jail, according to The Los Angeles Times. At the time Reuters put out a statement saying: "Any legal violations, or failures to comply with the company's own strict set of principles and standards, can result in disciplinary action. We would also observe the indictment alleges the conduct occurred in December 2010; Mr. Keys joined Reuters in 2012, and while investigations continue we will have no further comment."
Keys maintains the two incidents are unrelated. A subsequent Tweet from him read: "Reuters said the basis of my termination was because I violated my final written warning."
