Supporters howled and critics cheered when US president Donald Trump vanished briefly from Twitter earlier this month.
The account was restored after 11 minutes but speculation grew that the move was the work of a disgruntled employee at the US social network, determined to sever Mr Trump’s preferred communication link to his 43.5 million followers.
But now a former Twitter technician, originally from Germany, has come forward to claim responsibility for what he calls an accidental glitch.
Bahtiyar Duysak, a twentysomething German with Turkish roots, was a customer support contractor dealing with complaints of posts that violate Twitter’s terms of use.
Near the end of his final day at work, Mr Duysak said he received a complaint about a Trump tweet, started the complaints procedure and logged off. Hours later he saw the news and realised that something had gone awry.
“I didn’t hack anyone. I didn’t do anything that I was not authorised to do,” he told website TechCrunch. “I didn’t go to any site I was not supposed to go to. I didn’t break any rules.”
The German technician has refused to explain in detail what it is he did, or why it resulted in Mr Trump’s account being deactivated temporarily.
Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey said procedures had been reviewed to prevent such lapses in the future.
Security measures
“We won’t be able to share all details about our internal investigation or updates to our security measures,” the company added in a statement, “but we take this seriously and our teams are on it.”
The new details of Mr Trump’s temporary Twitter holiday have revived debate about the president’s use of the social network. His often-inflammatory tweets, this week forwarding anti-Muslim videos from a British far-right group, have boosted speculation that Mr Trump, as a huge driver of Twitter network traffic, is effectively exempt from the service’s terms of use.
Asked why he came forward, Mr Duysak said he was tired of living under siege, like drug baron Pablo Escobar.
“Slowly it’s getting annoying . . . I want to continue an ordinary life. I don’t want to flee from the media,” he said.
The German national said he is looking for a new job, but will probably steer clear of the tech industry for the next while.
“But I love Twitter,” he told TechCrunch, “and I love America.”
