Mexico poll frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum deluged with hate messages

Mexico's presidential frontrunner says she is being flooded with hate-filled messages after her phone number was published on social media.

Claudia Sheinbaum is the governing party's candidate in June's election.

One of the president's sons has also had his private number leaked online, and said it put his family in danger.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador blamed political opponents, but days earlier he publicly revealed a journalist's phone number.

Posting on X, formerly Twitter, Ms Sheinbaum said she was being deluged with hate calls and messages.

"What they want to do is obvious, once again their attacks are as crude as they are harmless," she said.

The former mayor of Mexico City faces Xóchitl Gálvez, from the opposition coalition, and Jorge Álvarez Máynez of the Citizens' Movement party in the June poll.

Mr López Obrador is not able to seek re-election because Mexican presidents are limited to a single six-year term.

Ms Sheinbaum, a 61-year-old trained scientist, is a close ally of the leftist president and is currently leading the polls. She officially entered the race last week by submitting her registration papers.

Jose Ramon López Beltrán, the president's eldest son, has also had his phone number leaked. He described the publication of his number as "vengeance".

Mr López Obrador described the leak of his son's phone number as "shameful".

The privacy violation for Claudia Sheinbaum comes days after the president himself publicly read out the phone number of a New York Times journalist, who was investigating alleged links to drug cartels among Mr López Obrador's associates.

The president hit back at criticism of his decision to reveal the journalist's phone number, denying that he had breached data protection regulations.

The New York Times described the incident as "a troubling and unacceptable tactic from a world leader at a time when threats against journalists are on the rise".