Twitter accounts were getting locked by mistake, issue has been fixed

Some Twitter accounts were getting locked by mistake and tweets were also not showing up delayed on timelines.

Twitter Support tweeted that they were seeing a number of accounts that have been locked or limited by mistake and not because they tweeted about a particular topic. (AFP)

Wednesday saw Twitter reporting two issues on the platform - a delay in tweets showing up on timelines and accounts getting locked “by mistake”. However, both issues have been fixed.

Twitter Support tweeted that they were seeing a number of accounts that have been locked or limited by mistake and not because they tweeted about a particular topic. 

You may be noticing a delay in your Tweets showing up on timelines. We're working to fix this right now.

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) September 23, 2020

We're seeing a number of accounts that have been locked or limited by mistake and not because they Tweeted about any particular topic. We're working to undo this and get those accounts back to normal.

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) September 23, 2020

Twitter Support mentioned that they were working on undoing this and getting those accounts back to normal. Both issues were fixed within hours of the tweet.

Twitter fixed the delayed tweets on the timeline issue by 4:08 PM (Pacific Time) and tweeted that all tweets should be making it to your timeline, on time.

The locked account problem was fixed a little later around 4:40 PM (PT) and Twitter also provided a link to the help page in case any user's account was still locked.

The accounts that were mistakenly locked or limited have been restored. We're sorry this happened in the first place.

If you're having trouble accessing your account, here's what you can do: https://t.co/lxCGYu2ZcO

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) September 23, 2020

We also noticed that some accounts were suspended by mistake and we've restored them too.

This could have affected follower and following counts for some of you and those should be fixed soon as well.

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) September 24, 2020

Twitter also mentioned that some accounts were suspended by mistake and those have been restored as well. Additionally, the support handle said that a suspension could have affected follower and following counts for some and those should be fixed soon as well.

Twitter was prompt in resolving the issues but these glitches have occurred as US gears up for its 2020 presidential elections. To help facilitate a safe and fair election, Twitter is working on cracking down on false and misleading information and is also removing accounts and tweets caught violating Twitter rules.

Twitter did not mention if this current account locking issue was connected to its work in the backend or if it was just a glitch.