A 24 year old man has been arrested by French police after he allegedly hacked the President of the United States' Twitter account.

The unnamed hacker, identified only by his online pseudonym "Hacker Croll", reportedly guessed a password retrieval term which allowed him to access the President's account.

He then posted screenshots of the hack to some message boards, but did not post as, or pretend to be, President Obama. Neither, it seems, was there any financial motive.

The hacker has also been accused of accessing other celebrity’s accounts, including Britney Spears and Lily Allen.

If convicted he faces up to two years in prison on each charge.

The man has been released on bail.