Twitter users were banned after they tweeted this seven-letter word. But why?

Memphis is a small city on the Mississippi River in Tennessee. It's a land of blues, soul and good old rock 'n' roll, where legends like B.B King, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley recorded their albums at Sun Studio. So, of course, it came as a shock when Twitter abruptly and without any explanation started banning the accounts of people tweeting 'Memphis'.

Not one liners or even a paragraph, but a simple mention of the word landed users in a big trouble on the micro blogging site. Several Twitter users over the weekend reported that their accounts were suspended or restricted after they tweeted the seven-letter word.

Twitterati reported that after tweeting 'Memphis' they received a message from the micro blogging site, stating that they would be locked out of their account for 12 hours. As the news about the bug caught wind, Twitter quickly tried to control the damage.


The social media site released a statement, informing everyone that the error was fixed. "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," the statement read.



But how did it start?
Going by several media reports, it is suspected that the error started after people were trying to tweet about the Dutch soccer player Memphis Depay.

Along with several Twitter users, the French football club joined in on the buzz with a witty post. With a picture of the footballer, the club asked the micro blogging site if it was okay to talk about him.


Though all the banned or suspended accounts have now been restored, it is still not confirmed as it what led to the bug or how many accounts suffered the damage due to it.