Twitter bug lets users force new followers

Twitter has confirmed that a bug in its system has been in use which lets people force users to follow their messages.

The bug let people add followers simply by typing 'accept' followed by a twitter name. This would have allowed spammers to build huge new mailing lists if the process could have been automated and there are some reports of celebrities being signed up as followers to people's accounts.

News of the bug quickly spread online, causing a spike in usage, and Twitter moved to track down the flaw. However, in blocking the bug the company caused a large number of users to lose all friends and followers.

“We identified and resolved a bug that permitted a user to “force” other users to follow them. We’re now working to rollback all abuse of the bug that took place,” the company blogged.

“Follower/following numbers are currently at 0; we’re aware and this too should shortly be resolved.”

Twitter is now working to restore previous friend and follower settings and has warned users that they should remove any unknown followers from their list.