Twitter Banned Me For No Reason During The July 2020 Twitter Hack And Still Won’t Fix It

Bud Hennekes
5 min readOct 22, 2020

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I signed up for Twitter in high school back in 2008, after a famous “internet marketer” said it would be the next big thing. Locking in the username @aboundlessworld to match the name of my blog.

From 2008, until the middle of this year, I was more or less active on the service daily, tweeting 100K+ times since I joined.

I even used Twitter while living in China through the help of a VPN.

Throughout my time on Twitter, I made literally hundreds of relationships, connected with marketers and entrepreneurs, and was slowly able to build a ‘small brand’ with a following of 3k plus.

While I’m not an influencer by any means, my Twitter account became the core part of my online identity and has transformed my life for the better in more ways than I can count.

Virtually every job and career opportunity I’ve had, started at least in part on Twitter. I can recall 15+ freelance clients I was able to land because of Twitter. I met my wife on Twitter.

I even used Twitter to connect with @garyvee, where I traded 5 SNES games for a job interview to land my first “big boy job.”

Most of my online relationships came from Twitter, and I’m incredibly grateful for everyone I’ve been able to meet and connect with. Twitter has perhaps had the most impact on my personal and professional life than any other product or tool.

It’s worth noting, I used Twitter in May to land my current dream job as a content manager.

All this to say, Twitter has been a massive part of my life for the last decade-plus, which is why it pains me to have that all taken away in the middle of July — for no given reason.

During the Twitter ‘breach’ in July of this year, I somehow was determined to be at risk. Maybe it’s because I currently live in Chile. Perhaps it’s because I’ve had an artistic profile picture instead of a real one of my face.

When I tried logging in, it asked to send a code to a number I no longer have access to.

No problem, I thought, I can figure this out via email.

Apparently, I was wrong.

After trying to login several times with no success, my account was suspended.

I was given no reason. No explanation. No, “you broke our terms of service” here’s how to fix it.

Nope.

I was just permanently suspended.

My last tweets before being imo wrongfully suspended

Ah… I’m sure this is just a mistake, I thought.

I genuinely didn’t do anything wrong, and I know the team is likely worried about the internal breach. Maybe I was accidentally flagged, and all will be fixed.

I wrote an email or two to the support team, hoping to get my account fixed.

Nothing.

Long story short, I’ve been “suspended” from my Twitter handle @aboundlessworld since the middle of July. I’ve sent dozens of emails, support tickets, and appeals to understand why my account was suspended.

I have to date received zero responses. Each time I submit a new ticket, I get a message saying my account is in review, but after 4+ months of waiting, I’m losing hope.

For some, “losing” a Twitter account might be something “silly” to be upset about. But the truth is, @aboundlessworld was instrumental to my career and maintaining relationships with friends and family around the world.

Worse, when you’re suspended on Twitter, you “lose” your followers and those who you are following. There’s no way to see your old relationships, tweets, or even DM’s. I’m not even allowed to download my Twitter data that spans 10+ years.

Those who knew me online as @aboundlessworld are now are greeted with a “this user is suspended” message.

Because I genuinely believe I didn’t do anything wrong, I’m okay with that, but it can’t be good for my personal and professional reputation to those coming to my profile to see that.

At the time of suspension, I had multiple conversations with people in my industry that was related to work. To them, I am likely seen as another person who “ghosted” them.

Since my suspension, I’ve recreated my account at @budhennekes and have done my best to start fresh. But the thousands of hours I put into building my account are gone… wasted. And again, I don’t have much confidence in this getting fixed.

Perhaps the most painful thing about this all is I was given no reason for my suspension. If I made a mistake or *accidentally* broke the terms of service, I would happily fix things. I’ve never used my Twitter in a way that could be viewed as inappropriate or hateful.

I’ve always used it as a tool for positivity and growth.

I used Twitter to follow my favorite sports stars, connect with colleagues in marketing, and stay in touch with my friends all around the world. I had carefully curated those I followed to find relevant news, learn new things, and tried to use Twitter to become a better person.

And yet, it seems as if the decision to suspend me is final (I wouldn’t know.)

Prior to my suspension, I did indeed tweet and retweet other tweets related to the ‘breach’ at the time, and yet having gone through every tweet I’m still able to see, I see no evidence of wrongdoing or me breaking any TOS.

I continue to try and reach out to Twitter to help get this resolved, but so far have had no luck. If anyone at Twitter is reading this, I was be eternally grateful to have my account reviewed.

I am willing to whatever it takes to get my account unsuspended. I’m happy to provide proof I’m the owner.

I’m happy to delete any tweet.

I’m happy to explain any number of things.

I know from the bottom of my heart this is all just a big mistake. I’m not looking for special treatment, I would just be grateful for an explanation and helping getting this sorted.

If anyone reading this could help me get this fixed, or know anyone at Twitter, a share would be incredibly appreciated it. For anyone at Twitter reading this who can help, I would be incredibly grateful as well. I can be reached at bud@aboundlessworld.com or 925–247–4957.

Part of my online identity is gone, and I’m hoping the folks at Twitter are able to bring it back from the dead.

Please share!

Jack Dorsey Twitter Public Policy Parag Agarwal Kayvon Beykpour Vijaya Gadde Ned Segal max mackey Paul Katsen Nick Caldwell

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Bud Hennekes

I’m Bud. I enjoy good conversation, technology, and traveling the globe. I also read minds.