Twitter GC Alex Macgillivray said the site ‘messed up’ when it proactively identified a tweet by UK Fleet Street journalist Guy Adams that criticised NBC’s coverage of the Olympics.

User anger

In one of the tweets, Mr Adams – who is the Los Angeles correspondent for The Independent newspaper -- published the corporate e-mail address of Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics, encouraging others to complain. Subsequently, NBC complained to Twitter – which had entered into a partnership with NBC to cover the Olympic Games –leading to Mr Adams’ account being suspended.
With thousands of users venting their anger on the site about the ban, Mr Macgillivray deemed it necessary personally to apologise
‘We do not proactively report or remove content on behalf of other users no matter who they are,’ said Mr Macgillivray. ‘This behaviour is not acceptable and undermines the trust our users have in us. We should not and cannot be in the business of proactively monitoring and flagging content, no matter who the user is — whether a business partner, celebrity or friend. As of earlier today, the account has been unsuspended, and we will actively work to ensure this does not happen again.’