NTV Explains Why It Lost Twitter Account With Over 4.3M Followers
He advised companies seeking features such as monetisation to ensure that they adjust their companies' accounts' date of birth in adherence to Twitter's terms.
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Nation Media Group's Managing Editor in charge of Audiences and Engagement, Oliver Mathenge on Thursday, May 11 revealed that NTV's official Twitter account had failed to adhere to the Terms of Service, thus leading to it being locked temporarily.
Mathenge in a statement pointed out that the temporary shutdown was occasioned by the failure to edit its date of birth, which ought to be more than 13 years prior to the creation of the account.
He advised companies seeking features such as monetisation to ensure that they adjust their companies' accounts' date of birth in adherence to Twitter's terms.
A photo of Nation Media Group. /BUSINESS TODAY
"Latest Twitter lesson: If you are running a company account and want to subscribe to the latest features (like monetisation), ensure that the "date of birth" is more than 13 years before the account was created.
"That's how we had NTV Kenya locked as the account was opened in 2009 and the date of birth was when the station was established in 1998," he addressed.
The shutdown, according to the NTV digital guru, had led to the pausing of their active ad campaigns. However, Twitter provided a way for the mainstream media house to restore access to its account through a form.
NTV's account had over 4.3 million followers on Twitter by the time it disappeared on Wednesday, May 10. It was restored the following morning (Thursday, May 11), but it was missing its verified checkmark by the time of publishing this article.
Many Kenyans had speculated that the station's account's disappearance was a result of the account being subjected to cyber attacks, as was the case with Kabarak University.
The institution of higher learning's verified Facebook account was hacked a week ago by a suspected Indonesian teenager who demanded Ksh68,000 ransom from the tertiary institution in order to get it back.
The teenager wrote, "I will not return this account, but I challenge all of you to reclaim this account immediately-regards a student from one of Jakarta's IT-based high schools, (Indonesia)."
Vice Chancellor, Prof. Henry Kiplangat stated on Saturday, May 6 that the misleading information and images shared rampantly by the teenager contravened the Biblical Christian values of the university.
On Tuesday, May 9, Kabarak University took back control of its Facebook account.
