Here’s the man who deactivated Donald Trump’s Twitter account

Nov 30, 2017

The man who shall be remembered fondly by billions of people all over the world has finally revealed his identity. No no, he did not invent the cure for cancer, or bring world peace. Well, he kind of did for 11 brief minutes by deactivating Donald Trump’s Twitter account! Meet Bahtiyar Duysak

Earlier this month, something incredible took place on Twitter. It was like waking up on a Saturday after a night of heavy drinking and noticing you have no hangover, until… it hits you. Twitter users were surprised, pleasantly, at finding Donald Trump’s Twitter account missing. It made headlines, and generated millions of tweets but no one actually knew who to thank until today. The man who deactivated Donald Trump’s Twitter account is Bahtiyar Duysak, a man of Turkish descent as reported by TechCrunch who located and spoke to the international hero.

Bahtiyar Duysak is the man we shall tell our children and grandchildren about. I am not even exaggerating because someone actually nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, and he is strongly being recommended as the Time Person Of The Year, but is facing some competition from the woman who put her middle finger up at Donald Trump’s motorcade.

I vote for the Twitter employee who deactivated Trump's account for 11 min!! ?

— Moises H Barajas (@Moicasmty) November 26, 2017

Or the former Twitter employee who deactivated Trump's Twitter their last day on the job.

— Cin || #GetLoudLadies (@ultimatecin73) November 25, 2017

"That Twitter employee who deactivated Trump's account for 11 minutes" is the early frontrunner for Person of the Year

— The Democrat Machine (@DemocratMachine) November 24, 2017

Twitter employee who deactivated Trump’s account for 11 minutes.

— Babyshuk (@NeetiVetter) November 28, 2017

Can we vote for the twitter employee who deactivated Trump’s account for 10 minutes? That’s an American hero right there.

— Media Will Kill! (@atom_attic) November 25, 2017

So here is the story of Bahtiyar Duysak, and how he made the decision that would turn him into the hero social media deserves.

TechCrunch reports his background, “Duysak, a twenty-something with Turkish roots who was born and raised in Germany, was workingas a contractor for a fixed term for the last part of his stay in the U.S. under a work and study visa. In addition to his role at Twitter with Pro Unlimited, other assignments had included stints in monetization at Google and YouTube via another contractor, Vaco.”

On his last day at Twitter, Bahtiyar deactivated Donald Trump’s Twitter account although as it turns out, he wasn’t actually sure that it would happen. At Twitter, Duysak was working under the Trust and Safety division, the division responsible for looking at offensive and other hateful tweets containing abuse, violence, and other unsavoury content.

On his last day, “Someone reported Trump’s account on Duysak’s last day; as a final, throwaway gesture, he put the wheels in motion to deactivate it. Then he closed his computer and left the building.” as reported by TechCrunch.

Not knowing that a mere employee that he was at Twitter, could actually deactivate the account of the President of the United States of America, Duysak was taken aback when he found out what he did, actually worked.

Of course, that does bring all sorts of attention with it. Good and bad. Bahtiyar Dusyak hasn’t enjoyed that part. He told TechCrunch, “I didn’t hack anyone. I didn’t do anything that I was not authorized to do,” he told us when we met in Germany. “I didn’t go to any site I was not supposed to go to. I didn’t break any rules.”

Twitter reacted swiftly, “The day after the deactivation, Twitter said it was conducting a full internal review and implementing safeguards to prevent incidents like this in the future. CEO Jack Dorsey also acknowledged in an interview shortly after the incident that there have been weaknesses and gaps, which it is also trying to address. He said that the clause about newsworthiness, which was not publicly known until Twitter made it so, was one of those gaps.” Josh Constine from TechCrunch writes.

On his decision to finally step out and speak to the media, Duysak tells TechCrunch, “I want to continue an ordinary life. I don’t want to flee from the media,” he said. “I want to speak to my neighbors and friends. I had to delete hundreds of friends, so many pictures, because reporters are stalking me. I just want to continue an ordinary life.”