Human error, not spam, brought down Twitter accounts

An unknown number of Twitter accounts were suspended yesterday due to "human error", says the microblogging site, after earlier blaming spam attacks.

"Earlier today, we accidentally suspended a number of accounts. We regret the human error that led to these mistaken suspensions," Twitter said in a blog posting.

Twitter initially blamed a "spam cloud" indicating a massive spam attack similar to previous attacks by organisations that have flooded the microblogging service with spam messages.

"A lot of innocent-bystander accounts get massacred in the process, which they then have to restore afterwards," said Tweet scheduling service Tweetlater.

Twitter said some of the accounts suspended were using the third-party site Tweetlater. "However, Tweetlater is not to blame for these suspensions nor is it in violation of our terms," Twitter said.