Twitter is a wonderful place where anyone can come and share their random thoughts and opinions in 140 (or now 280) characters or less. From angry tweets at the transit system when trains are late to complaints about overpriced coffee, and tons of burns at President Donald Trump – we can always count on Twitter for a good laugh. But, the company who runs Twitter also tries to keep anything offensive and rude off their social media platform. With so many users, it seems like a pretty hard task. They were under a lot of fire in terms of their “verification” program, as they verified a white supremacist this year and accidentally unverified an actor – oops. The verification, of course, being the little “check” next to someone’s name on Twitter (still waiting for mine…). Since they’ve had a ton of controversy, they’ve revamped their entire system and have decided they can issue verifications, take them away and also block accounts whenever they see fit. Except, they accidentally blocked a major media outlet for reporting…well, news.
Twitter accidentally blocked the Twitter profile for The New York Times’ international section when they tweeted an article about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The article was about Trudeau issuing an apology to the indigenous people in a Canadian province.
Left out of an apology a decade ago, native people in Newfoundland and Labrador get an apology from Justin Trudeau https://t.co/BRRIUNCVMw
— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) November 25, 2017
Twitter apparently thought this tweet violated their rules against hateful conduct.
But, after realizing they made a mistake, the company apologized – calling it an “error.”
Twitter said it stumbled in freezing @nytimesworld after a tweet on the Canadian prime minister https://t.co/9ui4zcXNeJ
— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 27, 2017
While it seems like nothing to have your account blocked for 24-hours, for a major news organization like The New York Times, it’s a huge deal. The company issues anywhere from 50 to 100 tweets per day giving out news information from around the world. Many users follow the account to get their news in real time – so it’s a lose/lose situation all around.
Twitter has since reversed the lock on the account and apologized – the right thing to do. The real question that comes of this – of course – is when will Twitter learn to block Donald Trump for his hateful and biased tweets he posts on an everyday basis? Am I wrong to think that his tweets are outrageously more offensive than what The New York Times put out? Let me know.