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Giuliani's Twitter typo used to abuse President Trump | Giuliani's Twitter typo used to abuse President Trump |
(about 5 hours later) | |
A critic of President Trump has taken advantage of a Twitter typo by his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to mount an attack. | A critic of President Trump has taken advantage of a Twitter typo by his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to mount an attack. |
Mr Giuliani left out a space between a full stop and the following word within a tweet, which caused the text to become a link. | Mr Giuliani left out a space between a full stop and the following word within a tweet, which caused the text to become a link. |
The prankster subsequently acquired the webpage it directed users to. | The prankster subsequently acquired the webpage it directed users to. |
There, they posted a brief message saying: "Donald J Trump is a traitor to our country." | There, they posted a brief message saying: "Donald J Trump is a traitor to our country." |
Mr Giuliani's tweet - which has been "liked" more than 39,000 times and retweeted more than 14,000 times - is still live, at the time of writing, four days after being created. | Mr Giuliani's tweet - which has been "liked" more than 39,000 times and retweeted more than 14,000 times - is still live, at the time of writing, four days after being created. |
Twitter turns text into a hyperlink only if it recognises the letters after a full stop as representing an established top-level domain (TLD) name. | Twitter turns text into a hyperlink only if it recognises the letters after a full stop as representing an established top-level domain (TLD) name. |
In this case, the former New York mayor was unlucky to have begun his follow-up sentence with the word "in" - which is used to denote domains operated under the authority of India. | In this case, the former New York mayor was unlucky to have begun his follow-up sentence with the word "in" - which is used to denote domains operated under the authority of India. |
He should have been alerted to his typo by the text changing from black to blue but may not have noticed. | He should have been alerted to his typo by the text changing from black to blue but may not have noticed. |
The website involved was set up by Jason Velazquez, a marketing director based in Atlanta, Georgia, who bought the rights to use the domain for one year. | |
"When I noticed the accidental link on Giuliani's tweet, I clicked on it," he told the BBC. | |
"When I realised that the URL was available, my heart began to race a bit. I remember thinking: 'This guy - Giuliani - has no idea.' | |
"I quickly upload my files, tweeted about what I had done, and left my apartment. | |
"Four days and a couple thousand retweets later, Giuliani's tweet is still up. And that's the best part. He either has to leave the tweet up or delete it entirely. He can't edit it." | |
Hundreds of other people have replied to the original post to draw attention to it and mock the mistake. | Hundreds of other people have replied to the original post to draw attention to it and mock the mistake. |
This is not the first time a Twitter typo by Mr Giuliani has drawn the wrong kind of attention. | This is not the first time a Twitter typo by Mr Giuliani has drawn the wrong kind of attention. |
In August, he accidentally wrote "hate 'me" rather than "hate 'em" leading several users to respond that they were happy to comply. | In August, he accidentally wrote "hate 'me" rather than "hate 'em" leading several users to respond that they were happy to comply. |
In that case, he also opted not to delete the tweet even after it had been noticed by the media. | In that case, he also opted not to delete the tweet even after it had been noticed by the media. |