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Twitter blocked my account for a tweet I did not make

jacquesmattheij.com

201–210 of 276 posts

Re: Twitter blocked my account for a tweet I did not make

#202
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Answer the simple question, has your password changed? Already answered upthread, someone figured out a way to test this without logging out and the answer is no, it has not been changed. So it has to be a technical trick of sorts. But what?

Are you certain that the email from Twitter is even genuine? Your account looks completely normal to me. I don't know what a blocked account should look like but to me it doesn't look like your account is banned or anything. And the tweet in question (which your bafflingly refuse to delete) isn't present.

> Are you certain that the email from Twitter is even genuine?

As far as I can check it, yes.

> Your account looks completely normal to me.

Ok. It certainly doesn't look normal to me.

> I don't know what a blocked account should look like but to me it doesn't look like your account is banned or anything.

Ok.

> And the tweet in question (which your bafflingly refuse to delete) isn't present.

That's even stranger. But: I also can't delete it anymore so maybe Twitter deleted it? But my account is still in limbo.

Re: Twitter blocked my account for a tweet I did not make

#203
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question, no idea, it could be either I guess. But the speed suggests at least some kind of targeting.

I once made an intemperate comment to someone arguing in favor of eugenics via involuntary sterilization that they should consider starting with themselves, if you get my meaning, and Twitter locked my account within 30 seconds. They have automated systems for threats of violence or encouragement of self-harm. (I was happy to delete the comment after using the opportunity to cool off and reflect for a couple days.)

An automatic block would at least explain the ridiculously short time between the recorded timestamp and the block (about 7 minutes before I became aware of it).

Re: Twitter blocked my account for a tweet I did not make

#204
post #76
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. If you weren’t a prolific HN commenter this would be the top comment here. Right now you’re making an extraordinary claim with zero evidence. Pointing this out isn’t “out of line”. E: As it turns out, not only was I not out of line, I was also entirely correct. You wrote this tweet Jacques, you just forgot. It’s not unusual at your age. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31240589 It’s time for you to ap…

Given that OP was making very pro-Ukraine statements and expressing their support for Ukraine on twitter up until that point, I believe it is extremely unlikely they just got drunk and tweeted "Die on the job..." to a pro-Ukrainian publisher called The Kyiv Independent. Even their HN reputation aside, it just doesn't make sense. I am one of the first people to always take OP statements with a gran of salt in cases li…

He posted in response to a tweet saying that Russian conscripts are expected to train on the job. In that context he's calling for Russians to die on the job, not Ukranians.

Re: Twitter blocked my account for a tweet I did not make

#205
The thing I find fascinating is just how many people immediately jumped to OP being in the wrong. As if Twitter is imbued with some sort of "unhackable" attribute.

This reminds me of the guy who figured out how to post on FB using Zuckerberg's account (or really anyone's account).

History shows us that all software with any complexity has exploits, and it is extremely unlikely that Twitter is the exception the the rule.

Re: Twitter blocked my account for a tweet I did not make

#206
post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok interesting, but within that context the tweet at least makes some sense but does not call for someone to die explicitly... it just gets weirder...

So did you write the tweet or not? Your behaviour in this thread is really bizarre dude, can you just be up front with us?

What is bizarre about it?

I got locked out of my account for something that makes zero sense to me, I'd like to figure out what happened. Would you not do the same?

Re: Twitter blocked my account for a tweet I did not make

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then I'm super interested in the mechanism used because I was under the impression that as long as my password is secure my account is secure barring a hack of Twitter at an entirely different level. 2FA the way Twitter uses it (using SMS to phone number) would in my opinion be less secure rather than more secure because it opens up a whole slew of possible attacks that would then also involve my phone.

FYI, Twitter supports Google Authenticator as well.

That might be worth setting up, thank you.

Re: Twitter blocked my account for a tweet I did not make

#209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No api accesses granted as far as I can remember. But good call, I had not yet thought of that one.

https://twitter.com/settings/security_and_account_access

I too am interested in what you find in your third-party apps list. That’s really the only way I can imagine an account doing a rogue tweet without your password being compromised. Especially when the rogue tweet is something related to foreign politics

Re: Twitter blocked my account for a tweet I did not make

#210
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the tweet either because I can't see the context in which it was made. If there was any...

Tweet is addressed to several accounts, one of them is KyivIndependent which reports Ukraine related news. The tweet looks like a death wish from RU supporter.

You get your account blocked for schoolyard level behavior like that? It's not even a serious threat, it's childish emoting. I'd expect people can say "I wish all [opposing football team] players would die in a fire!" without official consequence. Maybe receive some angry tweets in response, maybe have some individuals unfollow me, but not an existential threat from the administrators. I wonder if the same group or individual who made the post also had the authority to have it flagged. But why?

I'd hate to have invested years participating and contributing, and then have something as absurd as this happen. Especially since there's no clear indication from the administrators as to what exactly is going on.

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