A Twitter contractor admitted he "put the wheels in motion" that caused President Donald Trump's Twitter account to go offline earlier this month.
Bahtivar Duysak, a German-born and raised man of Turkish decent, told TechCrunch that he was living in the U.S. on a work/study visa. He admitted during an interview in Germany that he was responsible for the "mistake" that caused the Twitter world to panic — or in some cases jump for joy. Four weeks after the 11-minute outage, Duysak spoke to TechCrunch about what happened that day.
“I didn’t hack anyone. I didn’t do anything that I was not authorized to do,” Duysak recently told TechCrunch. “I didn’t go to any site I was not supposed to go to. I didn’t break any rules.”
Twitter responded to the outage citing human error and said it was investigating the Nov. 2 incident.
Duysak told TechCrunch that Twitter is requesting information from him but that he has chosen not to answer, adding that the FBI hasn't investigated him.
It was Duysak's last day in customer support at the social media company. He was leaving his position to go back to his home in Germany.
His role was part of the Trust and Safety division that receives alerts when users report bad behavior on the platform. When a complaint comes in, the team evaluates what steps, if any, to take.
The 20-something man said he received an alert about Trump's account during his last hours on the job.
"As a final, throwaway gesture, Duysak put the wheels in motion to deactivate it," TechCrunch reported. "Then he closed his computer and left the building."
According to TechCrunch, Duysak said he was approached a few hours later by a woman he barely knew. She asked him about his connection with Trump’s Twitter account.
Duysak said he was in disbelief until he turned on the news and realized what he'd done.
Duysak told TechCrunch he's finally speaking about the incident because reporters have relentlessly pursued him and he wants to get on with his life.
“I didn’t do any crime or anything evil, but I feel like Pablo Escobar,” said Duysak, referring to the Colombian drug lord. “And slowly it’s getting really annoying.”
Twitter declined TechCrunch's inquiries to speak about the details surrounding the mishap or to confirm Duysak's identity.
