Guy Adams: Waiting for 'explanation' on Twitter suspension

Independent journalist Guy Adams says he is "awaiting a detailed explanation" from Twitter after his account was suspended on Monday (31 July).

It is understood the action was taken after Adams, who is the newspaper's Los Angeles correspondent, posted a tweet containing the email address of NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel, a tweet which followed a series of posts critical of the broadcaster's coverage of the Olympics.

According to Twitter's rules: "You may not publish or post other people's private and confidential information, such as credit card numbers, street address or social security/national identity numbers, without their express authorisation and permission."

In an article responding to the suspension, published by the Independent today, Adams said "there is plenty of sense" in these rules but did not accept that he tweeted a private email address. "I tweeted a corporate address for Mr Zenkel, which is widely listed online, and is identical in form to that of tens of thousands of those at NBC."

He added: "I was not contacted by NBC or Twitter before my account was suspended. If they had dropped me a line, I might – might! – have quietly deleted the offending tweet.

"... I'm still awaiting a detailed explanation from Twitter as to why my account was immediately suspended."

At the time of writing Journalism.co.uk was unable to reach NBC, which has sent 2,800 staff to London to cover the games, for comment. An article by the Independent contains a statement from NBC in which the broadcaster is said to have confirmed it "filed a complaint with Twitter" because "personal information" was tweeted.

Meanwhile the Telegraph reports that NBC Sport’s vice-president of communications Christopher McCloskey said via email that "Twitter had actually contacted the network’s social media department to alert them to Mr Adams’s tweets".

As the Telegraph report adds, "Twitter and NBC entered into a partnership to cover to Olympic Games" earlier this month.

In its email to Adams, Twitter's support team stated his actions constituted "a violation of the Twitter rules".

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