The British Army has confirmed a “breach” of its Twitter and YouTube accounts.

An investigation is under way after both official sites appeared to have been hacked.

The Army’s YouTube channel featured videos on cyptocurrency and images of billionaire businessman Elon Musk.

The official Twitter account had retweeted a number of posts appearing to relate to NFTs.

NFT stands for non-fungible token. An NFT is a distinct cryptographic token that cannot be replicated, which acts as a certificate of ownership for virtual items.

At one stage, the account name was changed to Bapesclan and the profile picture was an ape-like cartoon figure in clownish make-up.

The Twitter account was restored to normal by Sunday evening.

A tweet posted afterwards read: “Apologies for the temporary interruption to our feed. We will conduct a full investigation and learn from this incident. Thanks for following us and normal service will now resume.”

The YouTube account also appeared to have its usual videos restored.

An Army spokesperson said they were aware “of a breach of the Army’s Twitter and YouTube accounts and an investigation is under way.”

They said information security is taken “extremely seriously”, and added: “Until the investigation is complete it would be inappropriate to comment further”.

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood said what had happened “looks serious”.

The chair of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee tweeted: “This looks serious.

“I hope the results of the investigation and actions taken will be shared appropriately.”