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Trump's Twitter account mysteriously disappears – for five minutes Twitter claims worker 'inadvertently deactivated' Trump's account
(35 minutes later)
A Twitter employee “inadvertently deactivated” Donald Trump’s Twitter account, the company said on Thursday. A Twitter employee “inadvertently deactivated” Donald Trump’s personal account, the company said on Thursday, shortly after the president’s @realdonaldtrump handle was down for 11 minutes.
Trump’s account was down for 11 minutes starting shortly before 4pm Pacific time. During the brief period of downtime, anyone going to the @realDonaldTrump Twitter page would see the message “Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!” During the brief period of downtime, shortly before 4pm Pacific time, anyone going to the @realDonaldTrump Twitter page would see the message “Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!”
After widespread speculation about what had happened, Twitter said the account was deactivated “due to human error by a Twitter employee”. After widespread speculation about what had happened, Twitter said the account had been deactivated “due to human error by a Twitter employee”.
“The account was down for 11 minutes, and has since been restored. We are continuing to investigate and are taking steps to prevent this from happening again,” the company said in a statement.“The account was down for 11 minutes, and has since been restored. We are continuing to investigate and are taking steps to prevent this from happening again,” the company said in a statement.
There have been continuing calls for Twitter to suspend Donad, particularly when he made threats to North Korea. However, when Twitter does this it typically marks the profile with the message “account suspended”. Twitter did not explain how the employee had accidentally deactivated the account, nor did it describe the normal procedure for how an account is deactivated. The company did not immediately reply to Guardian requests to clarify the process.
It’s possible that Trump himself temporarily deactivated his account or he may have been hacked. He has been criticized in the past for having poor security standards, continuing to use an old, unsecured Android phone when he moved into the White House instead of trading it for a secure, encrypted device approved by the Secret Service. The company’s statement immediately stirred some speculation on its own site that a “rogue employee” had been responsible.
Twitter did not respond to a request for comment on the incident. Willing to bet a six pack it was an inside job, rogue employee who wanted to shut him down
There have been continuing calls for Twitter to suspend Trump’s account, particularly when he made threats to North Korea. However, when Twitter does this it typically marks the profile with the message “account suspended”.
Before Twitter’s statement, some speculated that Trump himself may have deactivated his account or he may have been hacked. He has been criticized in the past for having poor security standards, continuing to use an old, unsecured Android phone when he moved into the White House instead of trading it for a secure, encrypted device approved by the Secret Service.
Twitter suspends accounts if they engage in abusive behavior, if they’ve been hacked or if they are fake or promote spam. The San Francisco-based company has in the past suspended high-profile individuals including the rightwing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, after his sustained hate campaign against the actor Leslie Jones, and the rapper Azealia Banks, who spouted racist venom at the pop singer Zayn Malik.Twitter suspends accounts if they engage in abusive behavior, if they’ve been hacked or if they are fake or promote spam. The San Francisco-based company has in the past suspended high-profile individuals including the rightwing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, after his sustained hate campaign against the actor Leslie Jones, and the rapper Azealia Banks, who spouted racist venom at the pop singer Zayn Malik.
Trump, who has more than 40 million followers on Twitter, is known for his love of the medium.Trump, who has more than 40 million followers on Twitter, is known for his love of the medium.
“It’s like owning your own newspaper – without the losses,” Trump said of the social media tool in 2012.“It’s like owning your own newspaper – without the losses,” Trump said of the social media tool in 2012.
Ascending to the highest office in the United States hasn’t reined in his 140-character outpourings, despite his promise in November 2016 to be “very restrained, if I use it at all” in his social media use once he became president.Ascending to the highest office in the United States hasn’t reined in his 140-character outpourings, despite his promise in November 2016 to be “very restrained, if I use it at all” in his social media use once he became president.
In the last year, he’s used the platform to hint about changing decades of policy on nuclear weapons; praised Vladimir Putin as “very smart”, even after intelligence agencies said Russia tried to influence the US election; sent abusive tweets to a female journalist and made veiled threats about nuclear war.In the last year, he’s used the platform to hint about changing decades of policy on nuclear weapons; praised Vladimir Putin as “very smart”, even after intelligence agencies said Russia tried to influence the US election; sent abusive tweets to a female journalist and made veiled threats about nuclear war.