Rudy Giuliani accuses Twitter of anti-Trump conspiracy (but he just made a typo)
With a single typo, the one-time cybersecurity adviser to President Donald Trump has fallen prey to cybersquatters.
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Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani
Social media might not be the place to find perfect spelling or grammar, but one little typo has given former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani a massive headache.
The conservative politician and commentator jumped on Twitter on Saturday to take a swipe at special prosecutor Robert Mueller, who's investigating possible ties between President Donald Trump 's campaign and Russian efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. The only problem? That lax attitude toward the space bar can also automatically turn your text into a hyperlink.
In the tweet, Giuliani wrote: "Mueller filed an indictment just as the President left for G-20.In July he indicted the Russians who will never come here just before he left for Helsinki.Either could have been done earlier or later. Out of control!Supervision please?"
Mueller filed an indictment just as the President left for https://t.co/8ZNrQ6X29a July he indicted the Russians who will never come here just before he left for Helsinki.Either could have been done earlier or later. Out of control!Supervision please?
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) November 30, 2018
Twitter user Jason Velazquez saw the mistake and registered the domain, turning the inadvertent G-20.in URL/typo into a website with a simple message: "Donald J. Trump is a traitor to our country." Velazquez, who runs the Pixel Riot web design company, based in Atlanta, said it took about 15 minutes between him seeing the typo and sending the site live.
"I did it, mostly, because I could," Velazquez told CNET.
But late Tuesday, the former mayor and one-time Trump adviser on cybersecurity issues noticed the mistake and showed his cybersecurity knowledge to be lacking.
An innocent typo and a speedy prank from a cybersquatter? Not quite. According to Giuliani, this was Twitter potentially being "cardcarrying anti-Trumpers" and letting users "invade my text with a disgusting anti-President message."
Twitter allowed someone to invade my text with a disgusting anti-President message. The same thing-period no space-occurred later and it didn’t happen. Don’t tell me they are not committed cardcarrying anti-Trumpers. Time Magazine also may fit that description. FAIRNESS PLEASE
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) December 5, 2018
The response on Twitter was swift, and mocking.
Oh, sweetie. Bless your heart.
— DedeRetiredTeacher (@retiredtxteach) December 5, 2018
Rudy, maybe you should ask one of your grandkids how links work?
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) December 5, 2018
Did you try unplugging it then plugging it back in?
— Rani Molla (@ranimolla) December 5, 2018
Velazquez had his own thoughts on Giuliani's response.
"I think it speaks to how the entire administration governs -- on impulse," he said. "Anyone with a basic knowledge on how the internet works would know his account of what went down comes off as insane."
As of early Thursday, both Giuliani's tweets and the G-20.in splash page were still up.
Giuliani didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Originally published Dec. 4 at 7:35 p.m. PT.
Update at 9:06 p.m. PT: Added confirmation from Pixel Riot founder.
Update Dec. 5 at 2:34 a.m. PT: Added comment from Pixel Riot founder.
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