Most BlackBerry users use UberTwitter on their BlackBerrys and around 1pm this afternoon got the message forbidden across the screen when they tried to use the app. UberTwitter is the only app where you can over-tweet (you know that tmi.me thing) and over-dm. It also has a trick where you can't go to Twitter jail (something we have been through here at BYC Promo.) Well apparently, Twitter caught on to this and shut the program down. Here is the official word:
From: Endgadget
Without elaborating, Twitter has just posted a help document titled "I'm Having Problems Logging In to UberTwitter or twidroyd" that gives little hope for an immediate fix: turns out the company has outright suspended both apps -- among the most popular Twitter apps for the BlackBerry / iPhone and Android platforms, respectively -- for "violating [its] policies." They go on to say that they suspend "hundreds" of apps on a daily basis for policy violations, but decided to call out these two in particular because of the high number of users potentially affected. Considering the popularity factor, we imagine this'll be solved one way or another before too long -- but in the meantime, you might want to fall back to the official apps for all three platforms.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Update: We've received a statement on the issue from Twitter, which says that the violations here "include, but aren't limited to, a privacy issue with private Direct Messages longer than 140 characters, trademark infringement, and changing the content of users' Tweets in order to make money." Follow the break for the full text.
We ask all developers in the Twitter ecosystem to abide by a simple set of rules that are in the interests of our users, as well as the health and vitality of the platform as a whole.
We often take actions to enforce these rules; in fact, on an average day we turn off more than one hundred services that violate our API rules of the road. This keeps the ecosystem fair for everyone.
Today we suspended several applications, including UberTwitter, twidroyd and UberCurrent, which have violated Twitter policies and trademarks in a variety of ways. These violations include, but aren't limited to, a privacy issue with private Direct Messages longer than 140 characters, trademark infringement, and changing the content of users' Tweets in order to make money.
We've had conversations with UberMedia, the developer of these applications, about policy violations since April 2010, when they first launched under the name TweetUp – a term commonly used by Twitter users and a trademark violation. We continue to be in contact with UberMedia and hope that they will bring the suspended applications into compliance with our policies soon.
