Twitter bug shows people liking Donald Trump tweets that they never actually liked

The site has attempted to push content on people in the past – but says this time around it is a bug

(EPA)

Twitter is telling people's friends that they liked posts by Donald Trump – when they didn't.

The issue is a bug rather than a feature, despite suggestions by some people that it could be a way of forcing people to engage with the president's feed.

In recent days, numerous Twitter users have reported seeing official notifications that claim one of their friends has liked a post by the president, or indeed by somebody else. But on further investigation they never actually liked the post – and it doesn't show up on their profile.

Twitter said it was working to fix the problem and that it was aware of it affecting numerous accounts.

But until it is fixed it could easily cause embarrassment for the people it is affecting, who might find themselves looking like they've liked offensive tweets or posts from accounts they vehemently disagree with.

The site has recently been working to push various pieces of new content – including those that people users have chosen to avoid – into their feeds.

That includes, for instance, showing posts from people that a user might not follow but which have been liked by a number of their friends. When that happens, the posts show up in a person's feed, but with a message making clear which friends have liked the post and to explain how it got there.

But that post is now showing up on tweets that the person has not actually liked, including those by Mr Trump.

Some Twitter users had suggested that the notifications were part of an effort by Twitter to force people to get out of their filter bubbles, and engage with opposing opinions. But Twitter has stressed it is a bug and will be fixed.