Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter
Hundreds of thousands of people found themselves following Donald Trump's presidential Twitter account without ever having asked to.
Twitter has said that a bug has now been corrected that led about 560,000 to accidentally follow @POTUS, the Twitter account associated with the presidency and which is now being used by Donald Trump's team. It is being run in conjunction with his personal handle, and has so far mostly posted updates on his coming to power.
In the handover, people who never asked to follow Mr Trump's new account – or had explicitly unfollowed it – found themselves doing so and receiving those tweets.
Show all 32 1 /32In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London An image of President Donald Trump is seen on a placard during the Women's March in London, England
Getty
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A view of the skywriting word reading 'Trump' as thousands rally in support of equal rights in Sydney, New South Wales
EPA
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome People shout and hold signs during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A protester holds a placard during the Women's March in London, England
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille A placard ready 'Pussy grabs back' is attached to the handle bar of a bike during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A young Thai girl holds a "women's rights are human rights" sign at Roadhouse BBQ restaurant where many of the Bangkok Womens March participants gathered in Bangkok, Thailand
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A Thai woman takes a photo of a "hate is not great" sign at the women's solidarity gathering in Bangkok, Thailand
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok American expats and travellers gather with the international community in Bangkok at the Roadhouse BBQ restaurant to stand in solidarity in Bangkok, Thailand
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protetesters gather outside The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Women's March at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Protestors hold placards reading 'My body my choice, my vote my voice' during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome A person holds a sign during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activist Sarah Annay Williamson holds a placard and shouts slogan during the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India
AP
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activists participate in the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India
AP
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A Women's March placards are rested on a bench outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A women carries her placard ahead of the Women's March in London, England
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila Women protesters shout slogans while displaying placards during a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President Donald Trump, in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines
AP
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany
AP
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany
AP
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany
AP
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Protesters take part in the Melbourne rally to protest against the Trump Inauguration in Melbourne, Australia
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters take part in the Women's March rally in Macau
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Womens march on Melbourne protestors marching during a rally where rights groups marched in solidarity with Americans to speak out against misogyny, bigotry and hatred
Rex
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau, Macau. The Women's March originated in Washington DC but soon spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila A mother carries her son as they join a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines
AP
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney An infant is held up at a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman attends a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman expresses her Anti-Trump views in Sydney, Australia
Getty Images
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydeney Protesters demonstrate against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia. The marches in Australia were organised to show solidarity with those marching on Washington DC and around the world in defense of women's rights and human rights
Getty
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters march from The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square towards Trafalgar Square during the Women's March in London, England
Getty
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters carrying banners take part in the Women's March on London, as they stand in Trafalgar Square, in central London
Reuters
The bug appears to be a consequence of the way that the Twitter account was transferred from Barack Obama's team to Donald Trump's. When Mr Obama left office, all of his tweets were moved to a new account called @POTUS44; everyone who followed the presidential account were automatically moved to Mr Trump's one, which had the same handle.
But that move doesn't appear to have happened smoothly, meaning that various people ended up following the @POTUS account after Mr Trump assumed control of it.
"Two issues were reported during the day which we spent the night confirming and have now corrected," Jack Dorsey, Twitter's CEO, posted.
He wrote that people who had followed the new Obama account found themselves being set to follow the @POTUS account as well, and with it Mr Trump's team. Some people had also asked to unfollow the @POTUS account but were "mistakenly marked to now follow @POTUS", according to Mr Dorsey,
He said that the problem had affected "about 560,000 people". "This was a mistake, it wasn't right, we own it, and we apologize," he wrote. "No excuses."
Twitter's role in the election and the continuing promotion of Donald Trump has been much discussed both inside and outside the company. Some have even suggested that it should have banned his personal account in keeping with his guidelines , and even many Trump supporters have suggested that he should stop using it so much.
It may even be the case that his tweets are breaching an Act of Congress, since he is deleting and not obviously archiving them .
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies