Bizarre Twitter bug automatically suspended users for tweeting out a single word

“As a result, we’ve temporarily limited some of your account features. While in this state, you can still browser Twitter, but you’re limited to only sending Direct Messages to your followers – no Tweets, Retweets, follows or likes.”

Affected users were also told to remove the tweet which mentioned Memphsis to begin a 12-hour countdown until their account was restored to full functionality.

The glitch hit Twitter on Sunday, with a spokesperson for the social media site telling Business Insider the bug has now been resolved.

A Twitter spokesperson said: “There was a system issue impacting accounts that tweeted the word ‘Memphis.’ The issue mistakenly requested that account owners delete those Tweets and temporarily limited their account features. The affected accounts are now reinstated and this issue has been resolved”.

While the Twitter Support account also apologised for the issue tweeting: “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.”