A Weird Bug Caused Twitter Users To Get Suspended For Writing 'Memphis,' And Some Took Full Advantage Of It

A Twitter bug caused people tweeting the word "Memphis" to get suspended for a period of 12 hours. In no time whatsoever, some users weaponized the bug to get their followers locked out of their accounts by asking them the name of the second-largest city in Tennessee.

Yesterday, European football fans discovered that tweeting the first name of Dutch football player Memphis Depay was getting them suspended from Twitter for 12 hours. While it unknown what exactly caused the bug, Twitter users immediately took advantage of it by attempting to trick others into writing "Memphis" and getting them slapped with an undeserved ban.

« C’est quoi le prénom de depay ? » pic.twitter.com/TVo22qsUCU

— Moha 🇹🇳 (@dooblebang09) March 14, 2021

R.I.P to lost accounts 😭😭😭 This guy is wicked Sha. pic.twitter.com/CJrsz55LQP

— Ken Tee Esq® (@KENTEE_01) March 14, 2021

Within several hours, the knowledge of the bug spread from football fans to the larger audience, with more and more users jumping on the bandwagon and asking questions such as the name of the second-largest city in Tennessee and what U.S. basketball team has the word "Grizzlies" in its name.

pic.twitter.com/0T7nKwpABG

— Omega female (@FatJalter) March 14, 2021

pic.twitter.com/CuQ7XjGbxX

— viking (@notviking) March 14, 2021

It took almost eight hours before Twitter fixed the bug and release the wrongly suspended European football fans and U.S. geography aficionados from the ban jail.

A number of accounts that Tweeted the word “Memphis” were temporarily limited due to a bug. It’s been fixed and the accounts have now been restored. We’re sorry this happened.

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) March 14, 2021

In late February, the official Twitter account for the Arabic community Twitter Arabs found itself in hot water after users responding to its tweets discovered that they were blocked by the account, with many incorrectly assuming that it was messages of support for LGBTQ+ rights that were getting them blocked.