For a brief moment on Nov. 2, the most powerful man in America, and perhaps the whole world did not have a Twitter account. A rogue Twitter employee had temporarily deactivated President Donald Trump's often controversial account to the cheers and elation of many users.
Initially, it was reported as the result of an error, but it was later discovered that the Twitter employee committed the action on his last day. Shortly thereafter, the world wanted to find exactly who did it.
Man Who Deactivated Trump's Twitter Revealed
The hunt stops now. The former Twitter employee has just revealed himself to TechCrunch. His name is Bahtiyar Duysak, a German citizen of Turkish descent, and he worked for Twitter through a firm named Pro Unlimited.
Duysak claims the move was simply a mistake and that he never actually thought Trump's account would get deactivated.
"I had a wild time in America," said Duysak. "I was tired sometimes. And everyone can do mistakes. I did a mistake."
What's Up With Trump's Tweets?
The fact is Trump's Twitter account is somewhat of a paradox in itself. Given the president's frequently controversial tweets, he could easily be banned or reprimanded with regard to Twitter's policies. However, because he's the president, everything he does and says is newsworthy.
Therefore, they are in the public's interest and must remain. Were he just a regular person, he would be subject to Twitter's rules and guidelines. But he's a man of great power and influence, and the public has a right to know what the president is up to.
This is a problem. Trump has received staunch criticism for his tweets, which comedians often joke about, saying he composes them late at night without much thought and consideration for repercussions.
An Internet Hero
Upon Trump's Twitter deactivation, many rejoiced and hailed Duysak as an internet hero. He was even not-so-jokingly considered for a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.
But Duysak says he doesn't really feel like he's a hero. He's been pursued by the media ever since, with some journalists aggressively attempting to reach him by contacting his family and friends, disrupting their privacy.
Hero or not, it's fair to say that Duysak's actions brought out some semblance of truth: that a large number of users want to do something about Trump's Twitter behavior.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey addressed the issue shortly after the incident happened. He said that there have been weaknesses and gaps, and its policies around newsworthiness are one of those gaps.
"We have implemented safeguards to prevent this from happening again," Twitter tweeted from its Twitter Government account. "We won't be able to share all details about our internal investigation or updates to our security measures, but we take this seriously and our teams are on it."
