Twitter suspends Thunderclap 'crowdspeaking' app
App's OAuth token is pulled a day after nearly 2,000 people used it to send a wave of simultaneous tweets to a pair of U.S. senators.
Just a day after its launch, the Thunderclap app has apparently been silenced by Twitter.
The app, which allows multiple users to send the same tweet simultaneously, helps users amplify their message by sending a wave of tweets en masse. The app was used for the first time yesterday when 1,922 users sent simultaneous tweets to a pair of U.S. senators.
After a second "thunderclap" was sent to Congress today, the so-called crowdspeaking platform suddenly found itself shut out of Twitter, as the New York company explained in a tweet:
We're having some technical issues with Twitter. Should be back up shortly. Got a question or want to start a thndrclp? help@thunderclap.com
— Thunderclap (@ThunderclapIt) June 7, 2012
The issues turned out to be that the microblogging site had suspended the app's OAuth token, Hashem Bajwa, founder of De-De, the company that created the app, revealed to Betabeat. "We figured they might. We're trying to reach people there."
Twitter representatives declined to comment on the action, but the app appears to have been suspended for violating the site's terms of services, which prohibit, among other things, the posting of "duplicate content over multiple accounts" and the sending of "large numbers of unsolicited @replies."
Bajwa told CNET he hoped to resolve the issue soon.
"We are communicating with Twitter's support team and talking with their executive team as well," Bajwa said. "Thunderclap is a platform for social good, and we very much want to work with Twitter and partner with them as a member of their ecosystem."