Because of a bizarre bug, the bird’s website temporarily bans people from posting the word “Memphis” on Twitter. On Sunday, a number of Twitter users suddenly they found their accounts blocked for 12 hours apparently just to say the word – including me.
What Twitter has against Tennessee’s second-largest city is anyone’s guess. Maybe they just aren’t big Elvis fans? Who knows.
Several users shared screenshots of suspension alerts they received on Sunday, claiming that the word that caused the problem was “Memphis.” Many discovered the error after sharing a photo of Dutch professional footballer Memphis Depay, the independent reports. In an apparent reference to this, the official English account for the French football club Olympique Lyonnais posted a picture on Twitter of Depay with the message “can we talk about him yet?” and tagged Twitter. Tennessee basketball team, Memphis Grizzlies, also appeared to shout the issue a tweet referring to the “word m” on Sunday.
A user shared an alleged screenshot of a response from Twitter Support, calling the issue “an error in our system,” without further explanation, but it appears that the original tweet was deleted because it does not appear in Twitter Support responses. .
“This has now been fixed and you can say ‘Memphis’ again.” I’m sorry about that, “the message read.
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A Twitter spokesperson also provided Gizmodo with the following statement: “This issue was the result of an error and has since been resolved.”
However, if this is true, it does not seem to be the case for everyone. Twitter wouldn’t let me go back to my account until I deleted my “Memphis” tweet and even then more features are still limited. Attempting to send a tweet or retweet anything triggers an alert, in the image below, that my account will remain largely uncommitted for the next 12 hours. I contacted Twitter for further clarification.
Not that I’m complaining, really. A 12-hour break from this place of hell seems like a vacation.
Whatever this mistake is, it can only affect our blue-free prols, like Twitter it doesn’t seem to signal my co-worker’s verified tweets containing the word. Images or image descriptions with the word “Memphis” also doesn’t seem to hinder Twitter’s ban hammer.
There is a certain irony in seeing the rapid repression on Twitter of the word “Memphis” after years of struggle to moderate abuse and bigotry on its platform. But this is Twitter for you: an online refuge for literally Nazis but God forbid you tweet about the birthplace of rock ‘n roll.