When Twitter crossed the line
Don’t like the way NBC is giving coverage to the Olympics? Well then don’t tweet about it – as long as Twitter and NBC are partnering up, that is.
According to an article published on London’s Telegraph website, Twitter and NBC got together before the Olympics to enter into a partnership wherein Twitter would feature highlighted tweets from sports insiders in return for on-air promotions.
Everything was going according to plan until Twitter users caught wind of the suspension of Guy Adams’ Twitter account. Adams, a foreign correspondent for The Independent, a U.K. media outlet, had reportedly sent out a handful of Tweets criticizing NBC for its coverage. He urged his followers to follow suit by contacting Gary Zenkel, the president of NBC Olympics. Trouble ensued when it was discovered that he had published Zenkel’s corporate e-mail address for his Twitter followers to use.
As soon as Twitter employees became aware of Adams’ actions, they alerted NBC and instructed the network as to how to file a complaint against him. Their intervention caused ripples throughout the social media network concerning the neutrality that Twitter has always promised in regard to the exchange of tweets.
"If what NBC is saying is true, it undermines everything that Twitter stands for and is an absolute disgrace and will aggravate many millions of its users," he said in response to the ban of his account. In addition to being denied access to his account, Adams was directed to write an apology and acknowledge that he had broken their rules for a reinstatement.
“I don’t understand their rules, I haven’t done anything wrong and I think it sets a very ugly precedent for me to promise not to do it again," Adams’ was quoted as saying in the Telegraph article.
Scanning the comments to the Telegraph article resulted in the discovery of the exact outrage that Twitter should have expected.
“I am sorry that I do not have a Twitter account so that I could resign it,” said one commenter.
Another commenter wrote, “A playground spat over a worthless toy.”
So what do you think? Did Twitter cross the line or was it merely protecting the privacy of a public figure?