Twitter Suspending Accounts in Droves - Stay N Alive

Twitter Suspending Accounts in Droves

Posted on by jessestay

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

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115 thoughts on “Twitter Suspending Accounts in Droves”

  1. I am about to post this RT… It appears that it has not all been on purpose.

    RT @spam: If someone you just KNOW isn't a spammer is suspended right now, their account is prob contaminated and we're fixing it

    Reply

  2. Thank you so much for your prompt action, Jesse – you are the best. Really very odd behavior from Twitter. I'm wondering if they tightened up their filters kinda like Facebook. lol! I'm optimistic all will be well as soon as poss.

    Reply

  3. That RT from @spam is from May 30–it's not a current update. I don't know why people are retweeting it. My accts, both @goodlaura and @medstart were suspended this afternoon for no apparent reason.

    Reply

  4. I too am a twitter suspension victim. Thanks for staying on top of this story. I freaked a bit when I discovered I was shut down. I have an alternate account and am using that for the time being at http://twitter.com/BlogSquad but I don't fall into the category of spammer, as far as I'm concerned and I don't my followers would say that I am either.

    Very odd situation.

    Reply

  5. Wow…I cannot believe I get home from lunch to find my account suspended too? What is Twitter doing?

    Reply

  6. The Twitter suspension has me a bit freaked out, too. Very confusing. I thought maybe it was because I opened up a new account just for the book I'm working on… hmmmm? Thanks, Jesse and Mari for the updates and info!
    Lou B.

    Reply

  17. I was suspended as well, and I've followed every rule. I too got a reply saying that it was resolved when it wasn't. I immediately opened the ticket again, and it's pending. Hopefully this gets clarified quickly. As a newly Certified Social Media Marketing Virtual Assistant who is trying to “sell her wares” to her clients, having a suspended account looks a little shady. 🙁

    Reply

  18. I maintain around 80 accounts for people and half of them are suspended. Might have had the same link post a bunch of times on some accounts but some of them have never had a link posted. So my customers now hold me responsible. One even threatened to sue me. This is so bad. I don't spam or send DMs either. I send 1 dm when I vet new followers.

    Reply

  19. Just saw this at TweetLater:

    We just heard back from Twitter via email, and they said : “Spamcloud hit. We’re working on restoring accounts.”

    Hope Lives On…

    Reply

  21. I'm a Twitter account suspension victim as well. Thanks for your post explaining what's going on.

    One thing about this event is that it has made me realize that I shouldn't depend so much on free apps like Twitter.

    Reply

  22. Please mention me in your tweets @LyndseyOliver – despirate to get back onto twitter, suspended for no reason, and waiting for a reply from delbius, who is putting accounts back on that have been RT'd but not those waiting patiently with a ticket 🙁

    Reply

  23. RT @LyndseyOliver account suspended this afternoon for no reason. Help her get back online!

    Please please please RT the above, for a fellow twitterer, and bored social recluse 🙁

    Reply

  25. Sources are telling me that the suspension is related to Tweet Later. My hubby and I have three accounts total, all of which are suspended. I've asked everyone to send a message to @spam requesting to unspam me so to speak. Not sure if this method will do the trick. It might just junk up Twitter, but hey maybe I'll become a trending topic!

    Tweet to unspam @blogging4jobs to @spam !!

    Reply

  28. Thanks for the info. My Twitter was suspended as well, so I'm glad I found this post, and learned it's happening to a lot of people. I didn't get anything from Twitter about the current status.

    Reply

  30. Mari, thanks for the tip – this is all very odd, and not good that Twitter
    still hasn't said anything about it. Maybe since you guys can't talk about
    it on Twitter they're able to get away with it.

    Reply

  31. I too am not a spammer/my followers
    were upset when my account got suspended/
    not fair for all the hard work to get reduced to nil

    Reply

  36. I was tweeting happily this morning on one of my accounts. I left for awhile and several hours later came back to find out that account was suspended, but my other account is fine. I am so glad that I saw the tweet from the active acct that brought me here! So glad I am not alone 😀

    Reply

  37. While I feel sorry for anyone unfairly suspended, in addition to the pure spammers I see lots of accounts that are what I would call “semi-covert spammers.”

    While these are likely real people and do interact with other tweeps (hence looking like genuine tweeters at first glance), they also engage in spammy behavior:
    – rapid growth in followers/friends through tools and automation
    – a high percentage of posts that are self-promotional and often focus on sketchy money-making techniques or even sketchier ways to gain followers, etc.

    I've got no problem with the individual who drops the occasional link to his/her blog or business if it references a useful resource and if such posts are part of a greater posting context that is genuine, interesting, and helpful. The people I object to are the ones who are on Twitter to make money, and add little value to the community. Twitter can nuke 'em all.

    Roger
    @rogerdooley

    Reply

  39. Ditto patricia Eales suspended. opened ticket. immediate response that it was fixes. Isn't. @Delbius supposed to have 'fixed' it. But she's at the movies right now.. 🙂 how fun for her..

    Reply

  40. My Twitter account, @dahliamadison, was also suspended around 4pm today and I wasn't doing anything except refreshing the screen to read new tweets. I am definitely not a spammer, and only use twitter to get useful tweets from the people I follow and to send useful information to my followers. I hope Twitter solves this problem soon.

    Reply

  46. #suspended Roger, even if this was the case and the suspensions were due to the issues you cite (“rapid growth in followers/friends through tools and automation,” “a high percentage of posts that are self-promotional and often focus on sketchy money-making techniques or even sketchier ways to gain followers, etc.”), wouldn't it help if Twitter were more clear on what is and is not allowed? I know that Jesse has voiced frustration in this area in the past, especially as a developer who thinks he's playing by the Twitter rules, only to have Twitter subsequently take an action that adversely affects him as a developer.

    Reply

  48. It isn't the autoresponders that is the problem. It is that no one can delete them without doing it one at a time and waiting for the screen to refurbish between times. Maybe their own carelessness caught up with them and they are about to burst their circuits.

    Reply

  49. Both @weirdchina and @weirdchina2 have been suspended by Twitter, can someone please post a Twitter update and let everyone know

    Reply

  52. Yup @theexpert is gone too. Worse than when I got suspended for blowin' up the Chem Lab in High School

    Reply

  53. Both @weirdchina and @weirdchina2 have been suspended by Twitter, can someone please post a Twitter update and let everyone know

    Reply

  54. 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

    Reply

  57. 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

    Reply

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

    Reply

  59. yep add @freemeditate to the suspended list, no spammers there just the twitter page of the meditation society of australia. …must be time to meditate!

    Reply

  60. 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….

    Reply

  62. 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.

    Reply

  63. @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…

    Reply

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

    Reply

  68. @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:(

    Reply

  70. Oops, sorry for the confusion. Neither my current account @empoprises nor my former account @oemperor appear to have been suspended at any time. (I was just using the hashtag when I was sending the Disqus comment to Twitter.)

    Reply

  71. 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.

    Reply

  78. My account was suspended yesterday. But today it's been restored. I've heard of others who have been in suspension for many days.

    Reply

  86. 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.

    Reply

  87. 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

    Reply

  88. 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

    Reply

  89. 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

    Reply

  92. Very confusing. I thought maybe it was because I opened up a new account just for the book I'm working on… hmmmm? Thanks, Jesse and Mari for the updates and info!

    Reply

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

    Reply

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

    Reply

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

    Reply

  105. 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

    Reply

  106. Yup @theexpert is gone too. Worse than when I got suspended for blowin' up the Chem Lab in High School

    Reply

  111. My Twitter account, @dahliamadison, was also suspended around 4pm today and I wasn't doing anything except refreshing the screen to read new tweets. I am definitely not a spammer, and only use twitter to get useful tweets from the people I follow and to send useful information to my followers. I hope Twitter solves this problem soon.

    Reply

  115. I too am not a spammer/my followers
    were upset when my account got suspended/
    not fair for all the hard work to get reduced to nil

    Reply

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

    Reply

  118. Sources are telling me that the suspension is related to Tweet Later. My hubby and I have three accounts total, all of which are suspended. I've asked everyone to send a message to @spam requesting to unspam me so to speak. Not sure if this method will do the trick. It might just junk up Twitter, but hey maybe I'll become a trending topic!

    Tweet to unspam @blogging4jobs to @spam !!

    Reply

  119. RT @LyndseyOliver account suspended this afternoon for no reason. Help her get back online!

    Please please please RT the above, for a fellow twitterer, and bored social recluse 🙁

    Reply

  120. Please mention me in your tweets @LyndseyOliver – despirate to get back onto twitter, suspended for no reason, and waiting for a reply from delbius, who is putting accounts back on that have been RT'd but not those waiting patiently with a ticket 🙁

    Reply

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