Twitter Suspended People Over the M-Word

'Memphis' was briefly outlawed, in error
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 15, 2021 12:25 PM CDT
Mentioning This City Online Got People Sent to Twitter Jail
In this Feb. 8, 2018, file photo, the logo for Twitter is displayed above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

If you live in Memphis, have been planning a trip to Memphis, or just like chatting about Memphis online, you may have recently found yourself getting a slap on the wrist from Twitter. CNET reports that users on the social media platform who mentioned the Tennessee city over the weekend in their tweets found themselves with an instant 12-hour suspension, meaning they couldn't tweet or retweet, and a directive to nix the offending post. Gizmodo has a screenshot of the alert that "violators" received, noting that they "may not publish or post other people's private information without their express authorization and permission."

The Guardian cheekily points out that although "Memphis is the home address of more than 600,000 people ... most postal carriers require more specificity to delivery a letter." Translation: This wasn't exactly a doxxing. Engadget notes some people tried to have fun with the snafu while it was in progress, trying to bait others into tweeting "Memphis" just so they'd then get temporarily banned. At any rate, the glitch has been remedied. "It's been fixed and the accounts have now been restored," Twitter Support tweeted Sunday evening. "We're sorry this happened." (More Twitter stories.)

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