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Twitter Says It Accidentally Banned A Bunch Of Accounts (buzzfeed.com)

Posted by msmash on from the stupid-bugs dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Over the past 24 hours, some Twitter users had their profiles replaced with a notice saying their accounts were now being "withheld in: Worldwide." The "country withheld" program run by Twitter typically prevents users based in a specific country from from seeing tweets sent by a withheld account. This was the first time people could recall the company withholding accounts globally, which was in effect a total ban for the user. At the time of writing, BuzzFeed News had identified 21 accounts that were being withheld worldwide, and users on Twitter were beginning to wonder if this was a new method being used by the company to suspend accounts. But a Twitter spokesperson tells BuzzFeed News that the worldwide withholdings were in fact the result of a bug. "We have identified a bug that incorrectly impacted certain accounts. We have identified a fix, are working to resolve the issue, and anticipate it will be fully resolved shortly," the spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.

25 comments

  1. haha whoops by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    a whole lot of accidental censorship these days

    captcha: repress

    1. Re: haha whoops by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

      San Francisco hipster fake progressives sure do love censorship on behalf of repressive regimes.

  2. many of us forcibly located in the back row by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    sing along https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2V3SNrkpp0

  3. And by redshirt · · Score: 2

    Nothing of value was lost.

    1. Re:And by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All those lost accounts, do we really care ? NOPE !

  4. This is good for bitcoin because???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    twitter is on the BLOCKchain lol

  5. Billing by behrooz0az · · Score: 0

    The guys in accounting would like to know if we're being billed the normal rate or worldwide rate since this was a mistake on your part?

    --
    Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion. -- Spazmania (174582)
  6. Sounds good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Keep it up

  7. What do you call a bunch of banned Twitter accts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A good start.

  8. Test run successful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nothing to see here, keep moving.

  9. Accidently by Templer421 · · Score: 1

    Yeah right.

  10. List the 21 accounts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    List the 21 accounts

  11. "Accidentally" my ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The banned accounts were probably espousing ideas that the special snowflakes at Twitter didn't agree with.

    1. Re:"Accidentally" my ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, one of the accounts: @KarmaReynoldson is a flaming libtard. She/He/It/WhoKnows used the racist "cracker" epithet, which Twitter cited in the ban. The tweet is gone and @KarmaReynoldson is back shitting up the world.

  12. Please .. by eneville · · Score: 0

    If only this 'Trumped' the other tweets.

    --
    Why UNIX?
  13. Test for the Nazi ban by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 2

    Implementation in 3 2 1

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  14. Twitter shitter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Classic penny arcade sums it up: Le Twittre

  15. Too many SJW by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    That what happens when accounts get removed for free speech.
    No talking about a movie review.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  16. unban sargon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nuff said

  17. Twitter is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Twitter is dead, Trump is its only remaining user, making it more of a 'what's happen at the white house blog'.

    1. Re: Twitter is dead by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

      Without Trump, Twitter would have no mass audience.

      Brazen censorship, and the absurd toxicity of the party line ideas imposed thereby, have driven away most of their former users.

    2. Re: Twitter is dead by chapstercni · · Score: 1

      And if Twitter decides to ban Trump, whatever platform Trump uses will see a surge in new accounts and usage. And Twitter will continue to die.

  18. It sounds like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It sounds like shadowbanning.
    Fun times.

  19. So what's the news, that Twitter apologised? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Twitter has been banning people for no reason and artificially limiting their reach for years.