Vijaya Gadde Legal, Policy and Trust & Safety Lead at Twitter. Twitter suspended my account on 1st August 2018 after multiple targetted reporting. As I had indicated earlier, my account was targetted by various individuals that lobbied for the suspension. Despite my efforts explaining this to Twitter, the account is still suspended.
Ramone Martin, East Africa’s Twitter Executive and Adrian Ciesielski, Africa’s Twitter Sales Manager happened to be in the country where they had attended several functions including Safaricom’s Blaze event in Mombasa and also visited Standard Media group under the invitation of Carole Kimutai, a former Tuko Staffer. Tuko is the Gossip Blog that had filed a fake DMCA claim against the @C_NyakundiH Twitter account and this is what Twitter used as a basis to suspend the Twitter account under the guise of many “many complaints”.
The blaze event was organized by Scangroup, the digital agency whose staffers have been lobbying for the suspension of @C_NyakundiH Twitter Account.
Journalists we have spoken to have confirmed to us that the Twitter executives discussed the @C_NyakundiH suspension privately in an event attended by journalists and local Kenyan agency individuals.
According to the masters of the universe Twitter executives, they were receiving an average of five complaints per day confirming that the account was a victim of targetted malicious reporting. Though they refused to state who was sending those complaints because Nyakundi has never received any communication from Twitter pertaining any tweet.
The event was organized by Carole Kimutai, a former Tuko staffer. Only journalists and agency fellas were invited as Bloggers were ignored. Kenyan media has been running a campaign against Bloggers because they view them as competition. Media has seen dwindling revenues as citizen journalism eats into their advertising revenue.
As we also revealed, Twitter is setting up the East and Central Africa office in Westlands as they aim to make more revenue through their advertising packages.
Twitter is targetting private companies like Safaricom and that may be the reason why the Twitter executives attended the Safaricom Blaze event in a pay to play scenario. Safaricom spends quite a sum with Twitter ads and many Kenyans have been observing that anything negative about Safaricom is always censored. Their office will also target government agencies. This a worrying trend because government agencies may start demanding censorship of critics in order to give them business. After the suspension of @C_NyakundiH main Account, Several Accounts impersonating me came up. People were actually sending me messages, calling and even emailing asking if I had rejoined. It was indeed a daunting task trying to clarify to all these people that the accounts were impersonators. I used my other platforms to rally for the reporting of the accounts, but Twitter never suspended the accounts.
A few days ago, I decided to write an email to Vijaya Gadde Legal, Policy and Trust & Safety Lead at Twitter. Here is the email I sent her
"I am writing to complain about the impersonation of Cyprian Nyakundi on Twitter. You guys suspended me after I came under targetted reporting. But now, you allow people to impersonate me, and the accounts impersonating me are gaining a huge number of followers
Please stop this before I take legal action "
Vijaya never responded directly but forwarded my case to Support. This was their response
" Case# 94712289: Outbound Message: Cyprian Nyakundi [ ref:_00DA0K0A8._5004A1VLkT4:ref ] Inbox x
support@twitter.com <support@twitter.com> Tue, Oct 2, 12:09 AM (4 days ago) to me
Twitter Hello,
Thank you for your message. We need to confirm the username you are reporting. Please reply to this email with the exact spelling of the username. You can either provide the exact username (e.g., @safety) or a link to the user's profile page (e.g., http://twitter.com/safety).
When a user deletes their account, you’ll see a "Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!" message when you try to view the account. When a user has been suspended, you’ll see a message that says, "Account suspended. The profile you're trying to view has been suspended".
Thanks,
Twitter '''
I did send an email with the accounts impersonating as shown in this email
Thanks for getting back.
There are many accounts impersonating Cyprian Nyakundi and here are links to all of them
Please stop the impersonations because it is wrong since you suspended me. You should come up with ways to stop impersonations of popular figures that you permanently suspend
Twitter did take a long time to respond, despite the seriousness of the matter. I followed up with an email to Support and copied Vijaya Gadde
" Twitter hypocrisy.
Hi, Good morning from Kenya. It is sad to note that Twitter is yet to do something about the accounts impersonating me even after I made the list and sent to you. Why is Twitter like this? Impersonation is a serious matter and people not on Twitter must be protected from the Vice. I am keeping these correspondences to show how I reported and you never acted in case I want to take legal action against the hypocritical twitter "
Twitter then responded telling me they could not authenticate if I was the real Nyakundi
'' Case# 94712289: Outbound Message: Cyprian Nyakundi [ ref:_00DA0K0A8._5004A1VLkT4:ref ] Inbox x
support@twitter.com Fri, Oct 5, 1:19 AM (1 day ago) to me
Twitter Hello,
Based on the information you provided, we’re unable to confirm your identity or verify you as an authorized representative. To move forward with your impersonation report, we’ll need to take additional steps to confirm your identity.
Your next steps:
Review the instructions below and upload the requested documentation. Please make sure to upload a legible copy so we can review the full name and photo on the ID. This information will be kept confidential and your documentation will be deleted.
Instructions:
Click on the link below and upload a copy of your valid government-issued photo ID (e.g., driver’s license or passport). If you are reporting an account that is not using the name that appears on your government-issued photo ID, you must also include documentation demonstrating that the name used by the account you’re reporting is associated with you (e.g., proof of registration of your trade name or pseudonym). If you are reporting on behalf of another user, we will need additional documentation to confirm that you have authority to act on their behalf. Using the upload link, please provide legible copies of documentation authorizing you to act on their behalf (e.g., power of attorney, birth certificate, documents showing parental/guardianship rights of minor children) AND a copy of your valid government-issued photo ID. Upload link: https://twitterinc.secure.force.com/u?e=cypriannyakundi@gmail.com&cn=94712289
Once we have received your documentation, we will review and process your report.
Thank you,
Twitter ''
I sent my ID details to Twitter and this was their action
"Case# 94712289: Outbound Message: Cyprian Nyakundi [ ref:_00DA0K0A8._5004A1VLkT4:ref ] Inbox x
support@twitter.com Fri, Oct 5, 8:02 PM (13 hours ago) to me
Hello,
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Parody, newsfeed, commentary and fan accounts are permitted on Twitter so long as they comply with our policy for such accounts (http://support.twitter.com/articles/106373).
In response to your complaint, we’re providing the user (https://twitter.com/CisNyakundi) with instructions on how to comply with our policy. Please allow 48 hours from the receipt of this email for the user to make the necessary changes. After 48 hours have passed, you can reply to this email if you'd like to file a follow-up complaint about the account. Note that Twitter will not proactively monitor the account, but will respond to all valid follow-up complaints.
For the remaining reported account accounts: https://twitter.com/_C_NyaKundiH https://twitter.com/NyakundiH_C https://twitter.com/C_Nyakundi_
we've removed for a violation of Twitter Rules (https://twitter.com/rules), and specifically our rules regarding impersonation on Twitter (https://support.twitter.com/articles/18366-impersonation-policy).
Thanks,
Twitter " Indeed Twitter has suspended some impersonators but left others out. It is interesting how Twitter doesn't keep a profile of popular accounts they suspend and protect them from impersonation. I again wrote to them complaining about more accounts impersonating me
Thanks. I have checked the account (https://twitter.com/CisNyakundi) and he has indeed amended and indicated it is a parody but sadly, there are more accounts impersonating me.
" Take a look at
https://twitter.com/_C_isNyakundiH
https://twitter.com/C__NyakundiH and
https://twitter.com/C_Nyakundii
How come you didn't detect these ones?
Twitter must do something to protect popular figures that they suspend. Should it be our work to monitor and report accounts impersonating us
The only surest way to stop such impersonation is allowing the real personalities to tweet.
This is sad
Please update on the other accounts I have given and advise what measures you are taking to stop this serious cases of impersonation "
Twitter responded after like 30 minutes, confirming they had suspended three more accounts
"Case# 94712289: Outbound Message: Cyprian Nyakundi [ ref:_00DA0K0A8._5004A1VLkT4:ref ] Inbox x
support@twitter.com Fri, Oct 5, 11:16 PM (10 hours ago) to me
Twitter Hello,
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We've removed the reported accounts for a violation of Twitter Rules (https://twitter.com/rules), and specifically our rules regarding impersonation on Twitter (https://support.twitter.com/articles/18366-impersonation-policy).
If you wish to report other profiles on Twitter that you believe are violating our trademark or impersonation policy, you must submit a new report.
If the issue regards you or your brand, please file an impersonation report here: https://support.twitter.com/forms/impersonation.
Thanks,
Twitter " From all this, it comes out clearly that Twitter does little or nothing to protect popular figures they suspend from impersonation. A Basic Twitter search reveals that there are more accounts impersonating me but the Twitter algorithms are too fake to detect and suspend them. Isnt it interesting that Twitter can permanetly ban individuals but allow parodies under their name? Hmmm
Here is twitter impersonation policy Impersonation policy Impersonation is a violation of the Twitter Rules . Twitter accounts portraying another person in a confusing or deceptive manner may be permanently suspended under the Twitter impersonation policy.
An account will not be removed if: The user shares your name but has no other commonalities, or The profile clearly states it is not affiliated with or connected to any similarly-named individuals. Accounts with similar usernames or that are similar in appearance (e.g. the same avatar image) are not automatically in violation of the impersonation policy. In order to be impersonation, the account must also portray another person in a misleading or deceptive manner.
Twitter users are allowed to create parody, commentary, or fan accounts. Please refer to Twitter’s parody, commentary, and fan account policy for more information about these types of accounts.
Find more information about reporting impersonation on Twitter . Accounts suspended so far