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Twitter Bug Automatically Suspends You If You Tweet the Word 'Memphis' (bleepingcomputer.com) 95

Posted by EditorDavid from the cites-in-Tennessee dept.
"If you want a 12 hour break from Twitter just tweet this city name and you will be immediately locked," Swift on Security tweeted today.

"A bug on Twitter is causing users to become temporarily suspended if they tweet the word 'Memphis,'" BleepingComputer has confirmed: This bug started today after users tweeting about the Tennessee city, sports teams, or players suddenly found that they were temporarily suspended for 12 hours after Tweeting the word Memphis.
Several tweets are already mocking the phenomenon...
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Twitter Bug Automatically Suspends You If You Tweet the Word 'Memphis' More

Twitter Bug Automatically Suspends You If You Tweet the Word 'Memphis'

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  • Is it such a problem to tweet "Mennefer"? (Score:4, Funny)

    by K. S. Kyosuke ( 729550 ) on Sunday March 14, 2021 @07:26PM (#61158526)
    Bloody Greek imperialists.

  • You think that's bad? (Score:5, Funny)

    by GameboyRMH ( 1153867 ) <gameboyrmh&gmail,com> on Sunday March 14, 2021 @07:35PM (#61158540) Journal

    Belgium!

  • Niagara Falls (Score:5, Funny)

    by slasher999 ( 513533 ) on Sunday March 14, 2021 @07:36PM (#61158542)

    What happens if you type Niagara Falls?

    Slowly I turned, step by step...

  • Sea cucumber! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Memphis is the safe word.

  • Meme-phis

  • Belgium! (Score:3)

    by OzPeter ( 195038 ) on Sunday March 14, 2021 @07:46PM (#61158578)

    That's what I'd tweet if I had a twitter account.

    • Re:Belgium! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by rtb61 ( 674572 ) on Sunday March 14, 2021 @08:04PM (#61158620) Homepage

      Not an accident, a test. One wrong word and you get kicked off for twelve hours, perfect for political manipulation. Any tweet that goes viral and they don't want it, they just ban the keyword twelve hours at a time and the gullible idiots hanging onto to every idiot tweet just thinks it's them.

      Pay attention people, this is a twelve hour shut down to kill any viral post at any time them choose. Continue to use twitter and you truly are a gullible idiot.

      • It's almost as if they're trying to 'remove' [youtu.be] a particular set of words from circulation for a period of time.

      • You think people wouldn't quickly spread that tweeting on certain topics gets you a 12 hour suspension... like they just did?

        Seriously, it's just a bug in their automatic tools. We already know they've got automatic tools to shut down certain threads. That's nothing new. There's too much content on Twitter for them to manually mod it all.

        If you don't like Twitter deciding which posts can and cannot go viral, don't use Twitter. If you want a public space on the Internet then you need the government t

        • Re:How would that work? (Score:5, Interesting)

          by RevDisk ( 740008 ) on Sunday March 14, 2021 @10:37PM (#61158956) Journal
          Reality is, the current generation of tech companies have plenty of money to spend on certain politicians and said politicians are happy to outsource censorship that would be extremely illegal for the government to enact. Even if it benefits me politically, I'm not thrilled with that situation. Because I trust those corporations about as far as I can throw them. Quite a few people I have known for decades were absolutely thrilled with corporate censorship. Solely because it was aimed at their political enemies. It literally did not dawn on them that it could possibly be used against them if said corporation's interests change or diverge. I still am somewhat awed by mentality.

          I'm far from a fan of the stereotyped Parler user. But Parler got taken down in what looked like a coordinated attack from their vendors. Was it collusion? I have no idea. They were morons to not expect it. But it still should have prompted an anti-trust investigation.

          Still, it is a disingenuous to tell folks "build your own X", knowing tech companies will kneecap that competition if it becomes remotely viable. But I suppose that is the point.

          • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

            by serviscope_minor ( 664417 )

            But Parler got taken down in what looked like a coordinated attack from their vendors.

            You mean the one where they violated the ToS for months, were warned repeatedly and finally had the vendor pull out? And how the main thing stopping them getting back up with any kind of speed was wild incompetence on the tech side.?

            Still, it is a disingenuous to tell folks "build your own X",

            Except it isn't. Parler is back up.

          • Parler got taken down in what looked like a coordinated attack from their vendors.

            Only in the same way that toilet paper got taken down in a "coordinated" way last year. Sometimes everyone gets the same idea at the same time for obvious reasons. Nobody wanted to touch Parler anymore.

          • for their donors. It's got nothing to do with censorship. It's about power.

            You're not going to get free speech out of them. What you're going to get is a DMCA style law that requires immediate takedown of any speech anyone who can afford a lawyer doesn't like. Big players and rich guys will be able to shut you down, but cat videos will be protected.

        • Re:How would that work? (Score:5, Insightful)

          by markdavis ( 642305 ) on Sunday March 14, 2021 @11:25PM (#61159042)

          >"You think people wouldn't quickly spread that tweeting on certain topics gets you a 12 hour suspension... like they just did? "

          No, because when it isn't buggy, it is probably done much more subtlety. I have seen credible reports from LOTS of people being shut down on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other platforms, doing nothing wrong, nothing illegal, breaking no rules, and with no explanations given. Just "poof", you are silenced because we don't like what you say.

          >"If you want a public space on the Internet then you need the government to build it"

          The same government that wants a "deeper relationship with big business" in the article following this one on Slashdot. The same one buying information from corporations to avert laws against collecting such information, directly. Chronism is quite alive and well.

          >"Free market cuts both ways."

          The free market does work very well, most of the time, when it isn't being manipulated by powerful elite, government, and mega monopolistic corporations gone power-hungy. It really is quite a jam.

          • The free market does work very well, most of the time, when it isn't being manipulated by powerful elite, government, and mega monopolistic corporations gone power-hungy. It really is quite a jam.

            When was this? When in the history of the industrial age were monopolistic corporations not the power-hungry and superpowerful? Well, at least in any capitalistic society.

          • Re:How would that work? (Score:4, Insightful)

            by archilochus ( 1075007 ) on Monday March 15, 2021 @05:49AM (#61159604)
            >"The free market does work very well, most of the time, when it isn't being manipulated by powerful elite, government, and mega monopolistic corporations gone power-hungy. It really is quite a jam."

            Exactly. And communism works very well, when people aren't being selfish bastards.

            To me, your comment sounds like further proof that those who believe in the "free market" are part of a cult. No amount of evidence will ever make them rethink their position. Just like communists or religious people.

            • To me, your comment sounds like further proof that those who believe in the "free market" are part of a cult.

              Fascinating. You equate the most logical method of economics with religious thinking. Of course, you do not provide a logical alternative that works better, you merely attack. The implication is that you are very much against the free market and that you wish to impose one of the antiquated and centrally controlled methods instead.

              Which method do you want to go back to and who would control it? A central committee? A benevolent dictator? I am absolutely certain that it would benefit the average person far m

          • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

            by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

            The free market does work very well, most of the time, when it isn't being manipulated by powerful elite, government, and mega monopolistic corporations gone power-hungy.

            So, never.

            Someone is ALWAYS manipulating the market. ALWAYS. You hope that it is being manipulated by government for good reasons (like stability) but it is often manipulated by government for bad reasons, too... because governments are often manipulated for bad reasons. Today, they are usually manipulated by... corporations.

          • seen credible reports from LOTS of people

            In other words, you don't know any of them personally.

            • >"In other words, you don't know any of them personally."

              Personally, no. But many were cross-verified.

          • I'm sorry, let me laugh even harder.

            So let me get this straight, you don't want government involved so you're going to have government force Twitter to do what you want?

            What do you think is going to happen when you create a weak government that is supposed to only ever do what you want personally while allowing unlimited money (read: power) to a handful of people at the top?

            Look, you've got 2 choices in life. If you don't have a powerful central government then people with money will build one.

            • >"So let me get this straight, you don't want government involved so you're going to have government force Twitter to do what you want?"

              You don't have to have a huge government that is meddling in everything in order to enforce some basic anti-trust. But we aren't even doing that. So we have the worst of all worlds- huge, wasteful, meddling government *and* not controlling actual and near-monopolies *and* not preventing chronism.

              >"The market isn't free, never has been, never can be. You either regu

        • And if you don't want to do all that, make your own website.

          With blackjack! And hookers!

        • "Hi, I have no idea what network effects are, so I think it's reasonable to expect anyone at all to compete with an established social network, even though billionaires would have trouble doing it."

        • Oh yes. Let the GOVERNMENT build it for us. That'll be great. No censorship there. Meanwhile I'll just be harassed for magically violating ToS until I go out of business if I try to build an "alternative" Twitter for all the "bad posters", never mind that Facebook and Twitter routinely do 100x worse without being troubled by anyone.

          • There wouldn't be censorship on any American government sites because they would have to follow the law and the Constitution. Posters would still be held accountable for what they posted so they wouldn't be allowed to post the equivalent of shouting "Fire," in a crowded theatre ( for example, "There's a bomb going to go off in five minutes in city hall!").

            A government site probably wouldn't happen because there are many lobbyists all over America, at all levels of government, trying to prevent governments f

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by cusco ( 717999 )

            Farcebook and the Twits host their own web sites, no one is going to be booting them off their own platform. Parler's admins were just too incompetent (and probably too cheap) to host their own site.

      • Continue to use twitter and you truly are a gullible idiot.

        Company builds business on backs of gullible idiots. Gullible idiots play hoof arted about enabling the whole thing.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        It's the anti-doxing system having a moment.

        Twitter understandably wants a system that can block people from posting personal info once it has been reported to them. Presumably someone in Memphis was targeted but they screwed up the detection that should have included their entire address.

        I imagine they have something similar for known illegal images.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Better not say "Mobile" either! Or "stuck", or "inside", or "blues"...

  • Plugged. But the #Deveselu tag will result in at least 12 hour suspension.
  • The Vulcans landed in Memphis yesterday and the powers-that-be are trying to keep a lid on it. \/

  • Zuckerbergs pw (Score:3)

    by AlexHilbertRyan ( 7255798 ) on Sunday March 14, 2021 @08:16PM (#61158660)
    Memphis is his password try it on facebook it really works.

  • Who's next`:-)

  • Censorship (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dan East ( 318230 ) on Sunday March 14, 2021 @08:25PM (#61158702) Journal

    Dang, that's some censorship right there. A word list that immediately suspends your account for 12 hours (for starters). Isn't it enough to simply tell you that your tweet violates their rules? I guess they figure a person may try to subvert it. Like I can subvert Slashdot's N A Z I lameness filter easily enough.

  • Go there. If your ears are working correctly, you'll note that the city is called 'Maulfus' (the 'u' is partly silent). If you wish to learn how to say the word, it's best to begin with a mouthful of mashed potatoes. You'll learn to love it. I wonder how Twitter came to understand that.

    • Go there. If your ears are working correctly, you'll note that the city is called 'Maulfus' (the 'u' is partly silent). If you wish to learn how to say the word, it's best to begin with a mouthful of mashed potatoes. You'll learn to love it. I wonder how Twitter came to understand that.

      Are you referring to the Memphis in Egypt, or perhaps one of the eleven cities named Memphis located in the US? You seem quite certain about it.

  • @TwitterSupport has acknowledged and fixed the bug [twitter.com].

    • Re:Bug acknowledged and fixed (Score:5, Informative)

      by markdavis ( 642305 ) on Sunday March 14, 2021 @11:30PM (#61159052)

      >"@TwitterSupport has acknowledged and fixed the bug [twitter.com]."

      Translation:

      "Nothing to see here. We made a mistake in our censorship algorithms, it was supposed to ban only certain people we don't like using the word in certain political and social contexts. The corrected code will now do this more effectively, quietly, with better targeting, and behind the scenes, so you can continue to think that Twitter is an open platform. We are sorry you had to see that, it was our intent to keep all our manipulation of your communication secret."

      • Re:Bug acknowledged and fixed (Score:5, Informative)

        by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Monday March 15, 2021 @04:19AM (#61159470)

        it was our intent to keep all our manipulation of your communication secret

        Jokes aside your comment makes zero sense. This wasn't a shadow ban, and twitter doesn't even try to hide that it uses algorithmic censorship. They flat out told the world they implemented it.

        • >"Jokes aside your comment makes zero sense. This wasn't a shadow ban, and twitter doesn't even try to hide that it uses algorithmic censorship. They flat out told the world they implemented it."

          The fact they are banning and censoring isn't a secret. Their motivation and agenda is, since the actions don't match the stated rules.

          • What rules? The rules are: "You're a guest in my house, if I don't like you I'll show you the door".

  • Try typing "Memphis did nothing wrong".

  • The wildlife lurking in Dorsey's beard realized that if they go to Memphis they can be free of him forever. Zuckerberg's resident rectal gerbil was quoted as immediately hoping that Facebook would implement something similar for the good of all the wildlife.

  • I panicked

  • So.. pretty much exactly the type of censoring the Chinese have been using for 10 years. I'm sure they would have denied it too, if someone hadn't screwed up and showed their hand. Reminds me of what happened with the The Donald (a subreddit supporting trump, much disliked by it's host reddit). Reddit secretly used an algorithm to give posts from the sub less visibility in peoples aggregate feeds. It would have had good plausible deniability, except that one day someone set the weight factor the wrong way

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by N1AK ( 864906 )
      The Chinese would be embarrassed; they've been so far beyond this for so long; comments like this just act to minimise the perceived distance between what another country does and China which is one of the most brutally authoritarian regimes on the planet. I still find it hard to believe, even though it must be, that anyone other than state sponsored shills could look at what China does and find something like this even remotely similar. The really depressing part is that this kind of misinformation makes i

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by cusco ( 717999 )

        one of the most brutally authoritarian regimes on the planet

        Really? Why aren't they a US ally like Saudi Arabia or Honduras then?

        • Yes we mustnt forget those champions of freedom, the Saudis who have spent more billions to promote fundamenalism and womens liberation and slavery than basically anyone else in human history.

  • Memphis Depay? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Henk84NL ( 7873544 ) on Monday March 15, 2021 @03:51AM (#61159438)
    Sure this doesnâ(TM)t have anything to do with Dutch soccer player Memphis Depay? A while back this rich guy thought it was a good idea to buy a Liger (Lion/Tiger) as a pet. Everyone hated him for it. Among the hate was quite some racism: a black guy with a jungle animal you know the drill. Perhaps this triggered the algorithms and made a connection between Memphis and racist tweets?

    • I don't have a Twitter account, but this theory of yours is trivially easy to test: Try tweeting about Depay rather than Memphis. If the result is the same, your theory is correct. If not, you are talking out of your ass.

      Let us know the results... assuming you are willing to actually test your hypothesis.

  • What could we say to really blow up Twitter? Please. Thanks. Sorry. Funderful. Non-alcoholic. Compassion. Shrimp-Toast.

    Antiquing

  • People can't even tweet about it!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Shimbo ( 100005 )

      People can't even tweet about it!

      That would explain why Elvis has been so quiet recently.

  • What's going on with Memphis that we ought to know about? If Twitter is banning something, the oligarchs are probably up to no good.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Nonesuch ( 90847 )
      So the warning references the rule on "Posting private information", this appears to be a clue, or at least an indication of which wordlist was being triggered?
  • ... Memphis was the name of an Egyptian city, first? Perhaps this is the result of a Pharaoh's curse.

    • Please, American did everything first. Hasn't Hollywood taught us that yet? Obviously the existence of the Egyptian city of Memphis is proof that time travel capable of going back into the past will be (or has been already) by the US and they have gone back in history to important times when famous cities were founded. Then, and I mean when these Chrononauts (time travellers) are in the past, manage to get the cities named after (or before?) the American cities.

  • Why would twitter have a feature that locks accounts if they mention a magic word ?
  • was in Swift's tweets: They intended to block a certain address as personal information, i.e. "Hey everyone let's go kick this guys ass at 12345 example drive in Memphis!" but accidentally blocked the individual components. So you might also gotten blocked for "12345 example drive", or possibly for "12345", "example", and "drive", in addition to "Memphis". "Memphis" was just the part that people ran into first.

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