Twitter Suspending Accounts in Droves

twitter fail whaleTwitter seems to be on a roll lately. It would seem, either by bug, or some new policy just implemented, Twitter has just suspended hundreds to thousands of Twitter accounts with little to no reason. You can see all the action, semi-real-time here.

I just received a tip from a good friend, a very strong Twitter user and definitely not a spammer, who was one of those people suspended without cause. She stated she submitted a ticket to Twitter support and the ticket was immediately closed with no reason. Looking over Twitter search, she’s not the only one, and many very valid accounts are complaining of having their Twitter accounts suspended out of the blue. Reasons for suspension are often following people and unfollowing people frequently, following people too fast, blatent spammy behavior, among other things, but based on the users I know were suspended none of these activities were happening.

There is no word from Twitter on this matter – I’ll update the post when I hear more. You can watch the suspensions and the horror occur in real-time (thanks to FriendFeed, ironically) below:

UPDATE: Twitter has responded via their Status blog: “Earlier today, we accidentally suspended a number of accounts. We regret the human error that led to these mistaken suspensions and we are working to restore the affected accounts—we expect this to be completed in the next several hours.”

Other major accounts suspended: @marismith, @denisewakeman, @loubortone, @tweetlater, @deniseoberry, @radionational – if your account was affected please leave a comment!

http://friendfeed.com/search?q=suspended&embed=1

115 thoughts on “Twitter Suspending Accounts in Droves”

  1. Both my accounts have been suspended: @YourWritingDept and @roncreel. Neither are used for spamming, but I do post through Tweetlater, so this may be the connection. Hmmm. Oh well, Twitter is (was) free and it was fun while it lasted.

    This could mark the beginning of the end.

    Cheers,

    Ron

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  2. Congratulations on apparently having your Twitter account restored. Hopefully mine will reactivate in the near future. It's still down. lol

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  4. This is a great post. Our @outsmarts feed was suspended earlier today and I am glad to know it isn't just us experiencing the frustration and annoyance at being offline. How can Twitter possibly be considered a viable business tool when its so flakey. @outsmarts hasn't been restored yet but here's hoping….

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  6. WOOHOOO — I'm back up and running int he land of the living tweeples. Whew, that was just a tad scary for a moment there. Just four hours of downtime can sure make a gal feel left out of the party. haha. Seriously, that was bizarre and created a ton of unnecessary confusion. I see Twitter updated their status.twitter.com blog and are stating the mistaken suspended accounts was human error! Hmm.

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  7. @lovepeaceunity ………………. suspended?

    Funny!! 🙂

    I can't wait to be allowed back on my account!

    I have to admit, on a positive note 😉 .. i spent a lot of time questioning what it could have possibly been and out of that has come a huge new injection of passion and motivation – so thank you twitter for stirring the pot and adding a whole new wave of desire to make a difference…

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  10. Why your Twitter team closed my request? My account @irfant is still suspended. It hasnt fixed yet. OMG, its already 2 months. 😦

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  12. @worldpartyday is a valid account…and a Twitter GREAT! So why is it suspended ? We've sent Twitter email help requests, alerts, inquiries, posted in Customer support …and it's still suspended. But there are still spam bots posting porn and spamming all over Twitter. ?? A lot of people are disappointed:(

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  15. Although my account had not been suspended. My account had not been searchable via Twitter People search and my tweets are not locatable in Twitter Search.

    This is almost as bad as being suspended. The only people I can communicate with are people who follow me or people I follow.

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  30. Most of the suspended accounts I've gotten were porno spammers. I'm glad they're gone. For those people who were unfairly suspended, I hope you get your accounts back soon.

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  31. I too was suspended. I am disabled and have published my Memoir and also artist work. I was attempting to filter through and erase the thugs and whores from my account and got suspended because I deleted and search too much in too short of a time. OK, I got that I understand how that could be seen as suspicious, BUT ITS NOT!!!!!!!!!

    I have sent two seperate Support ID and neither one has been resolved or addressed. In fact one was closed right after I opened it. Too date, the Twitter account Normajeansun has not come back online and this has a direct impacrt on my ability to support and move past my current limitations of my book exposure. Since I am honest, not a liar, thug or whore who wants to show you something; You would think the staff at Twitter could easily see that Im just a simple guy attempting to improve my life.

    I had 800 plus followers and my website and traffic has almost dropped off since Twitter did this. I wonder if you can Sue them for Defimation or Slander or directly impacting my ability to survive? Since I am disabled and my hope at additional income comes directly from my artwork and book, I wonder if this can get turned back on soon? I just want my account up, thats all.

    If you would like to verify and visit my website, it can be found at http://www.kriscourtney.com – Thank you…

    In that, please show me a Twitter Safe way of getting rid of the Ecrooks and Scammers in a way that Twits Software wont freak out over the amount of traffic. I had over 150 tweets that contained quotes and excerpts from my Memoir, Norma Jean's Sun. I have no way of getting those back in the thought and order that I worked so Hard at putting place. I had artists, singers, Book Stores, Publishers and Media channels following Me! I was actually having a success at talking/tweeting with my followers and then POOF, Gone because I tried to get rid of the FOOLS that steal my time and energy. Hmmm is Twitting just for fools, liars, thugs and whores???

    Oh, by the way I opened another account under my name, kriscourtney and I instantly got 23 Whores and Ecrooks following me. I feel so loved… Thanks Twits

    I’m frustrated

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  32. Im surprised to see that a lot of accounts from blogs are being suspended, Twitter has been doing this a lot lately, I recently created an account for my blog Soxial Media and its suspended now, dont get why, I havent done anything wrong, my following/followers ratio is ok, I post more than links of course, its been 2 days and Im just frustaded, my catharsis http://is.gd/28ekc

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  33. My twitter account was suspended a few days ago and i´m waiting and asking for help because i did not anythig illegal. Can it be this bug???? I´m very sad… I want my twitter back!!! You can check it out. My twitter is (was) @maridms

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  47. I used to Love Twitter!! But not anymore!! IM so mad right now!! my account got suspended with no Reason!!

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  48. Congratulations on apparently having your Twitter account restored. Hopefully mine will reactivate in the near future. It's still down. lol

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  49. John, I agree that the TOS should be clear. At times, though, you don't want to be too specific on limits lest you tell the spammers and would-be promoters exactly how far they can go before they get zapped.

    Rather, I'd like to see a prohibition on excessive commercial activity and humans enforce it. I think most of us can read through an individual's post stream and form a judgment about whether the person is on Twitter to be part of the community or to make money from other members. The joker who posts a half dozen motivational quotes out of a database, RTs a few random posts, and dumps in links to MLM crap is still a spammer, even if only one out of ten posts is self-promotional.

    If we can spot these charlatans, so can Twitter mods. Maybe when they have a business model they will be able to become more engaged in moderating and improving their own community.

    Roger
    @rogerdooley

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