Because of a strange bug, Twitter users who used the term “Memphis” were briefly locked out of their accounts over the weekend.
Several users posted screenshots of messages from Twitter claiming that their account had been suspended for breaching the platform’s rules after tweeting a post containing the word “Memphis.”
Late Sunday, Twitter admitted the mistake and announced that it had been corrected.
Some soccer fans found that posts mentioning Olympique Lyonnais player Memphis Depay were being blocked, which led to reports of the bug.
“Hey, @Twitter — can we talk about him yet?” the French soccer club tweeted alongside a photo of their Dutch forward.
Others joined in, cracking jokes about the ostensibly taboo subject.
The Memphis Grizzlies tweeted a video of a player blocking a shot with the caption, “When bots flood our comments with “say the m word.”
Some users mocked the taboo surrounding Elvis Presley’s hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, where he grew up.
Others alluded to the Monty Python sitcom “Life of Brian,” with lawyer George Conway, a vocal Trump critic, referring to the scene in which a man is about to be stoned for uttering the word “Jehovah.”
“A number of accounts that Tweeted the word ‘Memphis’ were temporarily limited due to a bug,” Twitter Support said on Sunday.
“It’s been fixed and the accounts have now been restored. We’re sorry this happened.”
Some users remarked that Twitter was able to ban a particular word, although unintentionally, and demanded that the site do more to combat bullying.
“Hello Twitter, Glad you got that fixed. Now ban the nazis, please,” one user tweeted.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
