The rogue Twitter employee hailed as a social media hero for shutting down the president’s account was hired as a contract worker.
The rogue Twitter employee hailed as a social media hero for shutting down the President’s account was hired as a contract worker, according to new reports.
A pair of people briefed on the matter, who spoke to the New York Times on condition of anonymity, said the person who deactivated Trump’s Twitter account during their final day on the job was not a full-time employee with the company.
The site announced it would investigate the matter just after 8 p.m. Thursday and later revealed that it was a “Twitter customer service employee” who shut the president out from his favorite platform.
In the end, the Trump’s account was missing for a total of 11 minutes.
He responded to the incident with a tweet: “My Twitter account was taken down for 11 minutes by a rogue employee. I guess the word must finally be getting out-and having an impact.”
It’s not uncommon for technology companies like Twitter to rely on third-party workers for a range of tasks, some of them more sensitive than others. The incident has sparked concern about how the social media site handles its affairs and who it tasks with key responsibilities.
A former employee told Buzzfeed “a lot” of workers have the capability to suspend accounts, though not many can fully deactivate them.
“It’s one click if you have the rights to access the tool,” the former employee said.
Twitter in response to concerns said it would be “conducting a full internal review.”
The platform, alongside Google and Facebook, also spent the better part of the week testifying in congressional hearings about efforts to curb misuse, in part by hiring additional employees, according to the Times.
Facebook said it intended to bring in another 10,000 workers to review content.
