On their last day at the company, a Twitter employee removed US President Donald Trump’s infamous account from the platform.
Twitter first blamed “human error” as the cause; it later clarified the removal was purposeful.
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Through our investigation we have learned that this was done by a Twitter customer support employee who did this on the employee’s last day. We are conducting a full internal review. https://t.co/mlarOgiaRF
— Twitter Government (@TwitterGov) November 3, 2017
The account was down for 11 minutes before it was restored with all of its tweets, but that didn’t stop others on the platform from declaring the unnamed employee the “Greatest Living Person”.
They left the company because their new job is World’s Greatest Living Person. https://t.co/y2UPdqiCkR
— Anthony De Rosa
(@Anthony) November 3, 2017
I hope this person never pays for their own drinks ever again https://t.co/REEhQK96sI
— Helen Rosner (@hels) November 3, 2017
A hero. https://t.co/1UL5w3wEaX
— Johnetta Elzie (@Nettaaaaaaaa) November 3, 2017
cc @NobelPrize committee https://t.co/7YFErky2CM
— Jess Dweck (@TheDweck) November 3, 2017
Of course, there were those who found the removal to be a violation of free speech, despite Twitter being a private platform that reserves the right to remove or suspend any account.
Leftists were popping champagne corks for that 15 mins Trump’s Twitter went down.
What does that tell you about their view of free speech?
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 2, 2017
Over the past few months, Donald Trump’s presence on Twitter has been hotly contested. Many believe that his aggressive and seemingly impulsive tweets threaten violence and encourage harassment — both of which are against the platform’s policies.
Twitter, however, has doubled down on its stance that having Trump on the platform is newsworthy and in the public interest. The company has not yet made clear how it will deal with the incident, saying only that it is “conducting an internal review”.
But while Twitter may be taking the employee’s actions seriously, others have taken a more lighthearted approach.
Some joked that Trump left the platform deliberately — either because he made the emotional move over to his “personal” Twitter account, or, as Ira Madison III jokingly suggests, it all comes back to First Lady Melania Trump’s body double.
— rhino roach #1 fan (@redjujufish) November 2, 2017
I don’t believe this explanation and neither should you. Trump deleted his own Twitter account. https://t.co/e7Yx5cneP8
— Ira Madison III (@ira) November 3, 2017
And, of course, there was that obligatory “you’re fired joke”.
[for this tweet please imagine President Trump is still banned from twitter]
it looks like twitter has said to Donald Trump, “you’re fired”— Pixelated Boat (@pixelatedboat) November 3, 2017
