A Twitter account run by The City of Edinburgh Council which serves as a vital resource for picking up residents’ questions and complaints has been suspended.
Moderators of the social media platform accused the user of attempting to avoid a ban – but the council said it ‘obviously believes this to be an error’.
The @edinhelp page has over 8,000 followers and was responding to tweets about things such as overflowing bins to roadworks, receiving hundreds of queries every week. The account information said “This is the official @Edinburgh_CC Customer Service account. How can we help? Tweet us or check our website for our online services. edinburgh.gov.uk“
The council was notified of the suspension last Wednesday evening and said on the council’s main Twitter page that it was “experiencing technical issues” with the customer service account.
Councillors were advised in a briefing note: “Twitter has suspended our account due to ‘ban evasion’ – which is where someone sets up a new account to get access to Twitter when they have already been banned.
“We obviously believe this to be an error and have appealed the suspension. We’re currently awaiting the results of this appeal but don’t have any timescales on when it will be resolved.”
Twitter’s ‘ban evasion’ policy was introduced in 2020 to ‘prohibit attempts to circumvent prior enforcement, including through the creation of new accounts’.
The suspension raised eyebrows amongst some Twitter users.
Sue Webber MSP who was a councillor for one term said on Twitter: “what on earth have you guys tweeted!?!”
Edinburgh Bus Users Group added: “Is @edinhelp back online/if not is there any indication when?”
Others complained that as Tweets from the account have disappeared, past responses and incident reference numbers are no longer available.
Another user said suggested Twitter “must be inundated with reports to have made this kind of error”.
They added: “Please reinstate @TwitterSupport the people of Edinburgh need this help account from our council.”
The local authority said until the page is restored, social media support can be accessed through the official Council account.
It said: “Our Customer team will be available 24/7 for any requests or questions, in addition to the reporting available on our website.
“We don’t believe there is any security risk. There hasn’t been any unauthorised access to the account and we’re confident there’s no wider issue beyond the need to simply get the account back up and running.
“We know that the edinhelp account on Twitter is valued and we’re very disappointed to not be able to offer the service at the time. In the last week alone, the team have managed over 6,000 messages and tweets, providing advice and support to residents and visitors attending ceremonial events in the city.”
Twitter was approached for comment.
by Donald Turvill, Local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency: funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector, and used by qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
