It is commonly known that Iowa and the Iowa State often share a heated rivalry every year on the football Gridiron. However, they also had to share an unfortunate moment online when Twitter suspended the official accounts of both the Iowa and Iowa State’s football teams.
Twitter hasn’t provided any public notice stating the reason for the ban. It was later found that the accounts were most likely suspended on the grounds of music copyright infringement in the posts made in the year of 2018. It is strange to see that Twitter is taking action over the previous year’s posts now.
The Twitter handles of Iowa and Iowa state @HawkeyeFootball and @CycloneFB were found suspended on Saturday and the suspensions came to light when CBS 2 Iowa’s anchor Mitch Flick discovered them around 9 a.m that day. He then posted screenshots of the twitter pages of the teams where an account suspended notice that read, “Twitter suspends accounts that violate the Twitter Rules” was posted.
“Now this is strange. Both Iowa and Iowa State’s official football Twitter accounts (@HawkeyeFootball and @CycloneFB) have been suspended. No other Big Ten or Big 12 schools affected,” tweeted Mitch Fick.
It was initially suspected that their accounts were banned on the grounds of the DCMA. Later on Saturday, it was confirmed by the @TheIowaHawkeyes that the Twitter accounts were suspended due to “music copyright infringement in a limited number of posts in 2018.”
Similarly, two official Twitter accounts of the University of Iowa Athletics Department were suspended on the grounds of music copyright infringement in a limited number of posts in 2018. The university officials then reached out to Twitter and ensured that their future posts will be in compliance with Twitter’s guidelines and resolved the issue. As a result, one of the two suspended accounts was restored.
“Two University of Iowa Athletics Department official twitter accounts have been suspended due to music copyright infringement in a limited number of posts in 2018. We are in the process of working with Twitter to resolve the issues and to ensure future posts are in compliance, and as a result, one of the accounts has been reactivated. We appreciate everyone’s patience and support of the UI Athletics Department social media accounts,” wrote Roe.
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