Twitter Gets a Bug

Efforts to fix a bug that allowed users to force others to ‘follow’ them, compelled Twitter to temporarily reset many accounts as it sorted out the mess.

The flaw allowed anyone who typed “accept” followed by a person’s Twitter account name to force that person to be added to their list of followers and made the virtual rounds at breakneck speed.

Twitter allows members to post messages up to 140 characters long. By choosing to follow another user you can view their messages, but both parties do not have to reciprocate the friendship.

The bug could have easily allowed spammers to insert messages into thousands of accounts. But mostly it was just used by people in order to force celebrities to follow them.

People were still able to use the service during the disruption.