USA Network briefly releases 'Mr. Robot' Season 2 premiere episode on social media

LOS ANGELES, July 10 (UPI) -- USA Network gifted Mr. Robot fans with the surprise, social-media early release of the Season 2 premiere of the cyber-vigilante series.

Facebook users watching a question-answer session with stars Rami Malek, Christian Slater, Portia Doubleday and Carly Chaiken Sunday were startled by an interruption from the masked leader of the show's fictional hacker group fsociety. The entire first Season 2 episode, which won't premiere on television until Wednesday, then followed.

"We have released the #mrrobot season_2.0 Premiere early, but it won't be here long. Watch while you can, friends," USA tweeted along with a video of countdown clock.

The episode could also be viewed via Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube and usanetwork.com throughout the evening.