Twitter issues apology after bug causes users to follow Trump

WASHINGTON: Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to follow US President Donald Trump on Twitter after a technical glitch, prompting the social networking site to apologize to users.

The new President was handed control of the @POTUS account when he took the oath of office at Friday's inauguration.

Some users parted ways with @POTUS on the social network once it changed hands from former president Barack Obama to Trump. However, for reasons unexplained, they automatically re-followed the presidential account without their permission.

Users who noticed the glitch were quick to bring it to the attention of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey who acknowledged "mistakes" in the process that caused users who unfollowed the POTUS account to follow it without opting to do so.

He explained in a series of tweets that users who followed President Obama's new handle -- @POTUS44 -- after noon on Friday were automatically set to follow the Trump-run @POTUS handle.

In addition, "some people who unfollowed @POTUS in the past were mistakenly marked to now follow @POTUS," Dorsey said via Twitter. "This also affected other official Administration accounts like @VP, @WhiteHouse, and @PressSec."

"We believe this affected about 560,000 people. This was a mistake, it wasn't right, we own it, and we apologize. No excuses," he tweeted.

Dorsey said the issue has been corrected, CNN reported.

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9 things Donald Trump said about H-1B visa and outsourcing

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9 things Donald Trump said about H-1B visa and outsourcing

The die has been cast, Donald Trump has become the 45th President of United States of America. After a long and bitterly-fought campaign, Trump engendered a shock upset by winning 276 electoral votes from 27 states, six more than the 270 needed to win the Presidency.

Trump’s ascension in part has been credited to his strong views on immigration as well as his strong rhetoric on H-1B visas. However, while H-1B and outsourcing were frequent campaign issues used by him during the Republican primary season, they were more or less absent from his key election campaigns later. Though during the last leg of his campaign, he slammed IBM for sending jobs abroad.

Here are nine things that Donald Trump said about H-1B visa and outsourcing during his campaign days.

Wants to hike minimum salary of H-1B visa holders

Trump said that if elected, he will hike the minimum wage paid to H-1B visa holders. This may reduce the job opportunity prospects for Indian IT professionals as higher-minimum wages may erode economic benefits of hiring H-1B visa holders for US companies.

Threatened to levy 35% tax on companies 'outsourcing jobs'

Donald Trump said that he will impose 35% tax on US companies that lay off workers while outsourcing their production to other countries at separate election rallies.

​Lashed at IBM for outsourcing jobs

Earlier this week, Donald Trump accused US tech giant IBM of laying off 500 workers at a rally in Minneapolis and shifting their jobs to India and other countries.

"IBM laid off 500 workers in Minneapolis and moved their jobs to India and other countries. A Trump administration will stop the jobs from leaving America, and we will stop the jobs from leaving Minnesota," Trump said during his speech in Minneapolis, as part of efforts to woo voters in Minnesota state which has been a Democrat stronghold.

​Pledged to protect American jobs

Pledging to protect American jobs, Trump told cheering supporters in Cincinnati, Ohio, "At the same time, companies are importing low-wage workers on H-1B visas to take jobs from young college-trained Americans". We will protect these jobs for Americans," he further added.

Slammed Facebook CEO for his demand to triple H-1B visas

Last year, Trump slammed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for his demand to triple H-1B visas.

"More than half of H-1B visas are issued for the programme's lowest allowable wage level, and more than 80% for its bottom two," Trump's immigration policy paper said.

"Raising the prevailing wage paid to H-1Bs will force companies to give these coveted entry-level jobs to the existing domestic pool of unemployed native and immigrant workers in the US, instead of flying in cheaper workers from overseas," the paper added.

"This will improve the number of black, Hispanic and female workers in Silicon Valley who have been passed over in favour of the H-1B programme. Mark Zuckerberg's personal Senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple H-1Bs that would decimate women and minorities," Trump's campaign paper further said.

​I support people coming to America legally

Showing a flip-flop in his stance, Trump reportedly said in an exchange during the Republican debate on CNBC (October 28, 2015), “I’m in favour of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it any way you want.

You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. As far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, it’s fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It’s fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally.”

​H-1B visas enable America to retain talent from overseas

According to a report in Wall Street Journal, in a debate hosted by Fox News in Detroit, Michigan in March this year, Trump said that the H-1B visas enable America to recruit and retain talent from overseas.

“We need highly-skilled people in this country,” Trump said during the debate. "If we can’t do it, we will get them in," he added.

​We need to keep brainpower in this country

During the Detroit debate, according to Fox News, Trump said "...he was now in favour of the H-1B visa programme - despite what his website still says."
"One of the biggest problems we have is people go to the best colleges … as soon as they’re finished, they get shoved out. They want to stay in this country," Trump reportedly said at the debate.

He further went on to add, as per the Fox News article, "They want to stay here desperately. They’re not able to stay here. For that purpose, we absolutely have to be able to keep the brainpower in this country."

When asked about the stance given on his website, he reportedly said, "I'm changing it and I'm softening the position...."

​Americans first

According to a policy paper on immigration, Trump's vision is to prioritize the jobs, wages and security of the Americans and establish new immigration controls to boost wages, ensuring that open jobs are offered to American workers first.

LATEST COMMENTN Renganathan, Location, 6 hours ago

by hook or crook !!!!

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey asked users on December 29, 2016, what improvements the service could implement for 2017, and many responded by requesting the ability to edit tweets once posted.

However, this then raises questions regarding authenticity issues. Suggestions were made to set up a small window of time during which tweets can be modified, after which the tweet can no longer be changed. A modification history would also keep the original tweet on public record.

Other suggestions involved introducing a bookmark option, and improving controls against online harassment on the platform.