SUNY Geneseo, a liberal arts college in upstate New York, just wanted the parody Twitter account @SUNYGenseeo deactivated. Instead, Twitter handed over the keys to the unofficial account created by a student, a school representative says, giving the school access to delete most of sophomore Isaiah Kelly’s tweets.
While a Twitter spokesperson admits the company made a “mistake” in how it handled the situation, it didn’t elaborate on why it chose to take the action it did, or whether it was common practice to give account access to a third party when impersonation is involved.
“We made a mistake and should have suspended @SUNYGenseeo for impersonation,” Twitter spokesperson Aly Pavela writes in an emailed statement to The Verge. “We’ve…