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Did retweeting private info get @AnonOpsSweden banned from Twitter?

A source tells us @AnonOpsSweden was suspended for posting "private information"—gay porn with links to phone numbers in Spain. 

 

Kevin Collier

Internet Culture

Posted on Dec 13, 2012   Updated on Jun 2, 2021, 5:36 am CDT

@AnonOpsSweden, one of the fastest-growing Anonymous Twitter accounts and one that almost exclusively linked to news articles, has been permanently banned from Twitter, according to an email from Twitter posted on Cyberguerilla.org.

It’s the end of a long chapter in the life of that account, which was mysteriously suspended and reinstated several times in November and December.

It’s impossible to fully verify who was behind the account. Twitter won’t comment on individual suspension, @AnonOpsSweden didn’t reveal personal information, and the account itself is now permanently inaccessible. But the Daily Dot, via other users who take up the Anonymous mantle, found and emailed a user who claimed to have been one of several to run the account.

The source told us the reason for @AnonOpsSweden’s original suspension, on Nov. 24, “was ‘posting private information.’”

That tweet, a manual retweet of @MissLulz (an account that’s also suspended), read, “Please help! National Democracy suspend 4 #Anonymous twitter accounts. Spread please HACKED !!” and included that link to private information, which is absolutely not safe for work: a page on Democrasia’s official website, which still shows two Spanish names, each accompanied by a phone number and gay pornography.

“Our comrade feels alone and unprotected in the harassment of anonymous and needs someone to protect him and help him eat the pizzas they send you and you really like eggs,” reads the translation.

According to Twitter’s official suspension notice, which the source forwarded to the Daily Dot, the tweet’s content violated Twitter’s policy, which prohibits “post[ing] the private and confidential information of others.”

But though @AnonOpsSweden was reinstated Nov. 28, it was re-suspended a few days later, with no explanation. Then Wednesday, Twitter sent another email notice—this one announcing a “permanent suspension.” This time, Twitter also cited “posting private information,” though it didn’t cite a reason.

The source said that those behind @AnonOpsSweden will soon create another account in its stead.

“AoS will live!” the source said. “We are regrouping and soon to take action.”

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

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*First Published: Dec 13, 2012, 9:41 am CST