Twitter Returning For Users After Major Outage Thursday Afternoon

Topline

Twitter users across the world were unable to access the social media website after a major outage appeared to strike Thursday afternoon, but Twitter said there didn’t appear to be any evidence of a security breach or hack.

Key Facts

Crucial Quote

“Twitter has been down for many of you and we’re working to get it back up and running for everyone,” Twitter Support said. “We had some trouble with our internal systems and don’t have any evidence of a security breach or hack.”

Key Background

The outage comes just a day after Twitter came under fire for blocking a New York Post article from being shared, which included alleged emails that seem to show Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden had been introduced to an advisor of Ukrainian company Burisma through his son, Hunter Biden. The facts in that story have come under serious question, and Biden’s campaign dismissed the story. President Donald Trump and some conservatives, though, latched onto Twitter blocking the story as evidence of a left-leaning political bias in tech. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey later said it was “unacceptable” that Twitter restricted sharing of the story without explanation, while a Twitter spokesperson told Forbes sharing had been restricted because of a violation of the company’s “Hacked Materials” policy. 

Tangent

In July, Twitter enacted a self-induced shutdown for all verified accounts, after high-profile accounts like Joe Biden, Bill Gates and Kanye West were compromised as part of a Bitcoin scam.

Further Reading

Facebook, Twitter Limit Reach Of Article About Hunter Biden (Forbes)

Twitter’s Jack Dorsey says company botched blocking NYP article on alleged emails on Hunter Biden’s laptop (Fox News)

FBI Investigating Twitter Hack That Hit Joe Biden And Dozens Of Top Accounts (Forbes)