• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

He worked 100-hour weeks to save a nearly bankrupt boat company. At 83, he’s just turned down $400 million for it—and gave it all to charity instead

2

The rise of 'conspicuous waiting': The 19th-century economic theory that explains why Gen Z posts their place in line

3

Costco's $14 million email settlement: Who qualifies for an up-to $500 payment and how to claim before the Aug. 24 deadline

1

He worked 100-hour weeks to save a nearly bankrupt boat company. At 83, he’s just turned down $400 million for it—and gave it all to charity instead

2

The rise of 'conspicuous waiting': The 19th-century economic theory that explains why Gen Z posts their place in line

3

Costco's $14 million email settlement: Who qualifies for an up-to $500 payment and how to claim before the Aug. 24 deadline

Twitter Rebuffs Rudy Giuliani’s Claim That the Social Network Sabotaged Him

By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
December 5, 2018, 9:43 AM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Twitter has denied Rudy Giuliani’s claims that it intentionally sabotaged a recent tweet.

Last week, Giuliani took to his Twitter account to decry special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. In that tweet, Giuliani typed, “Mueller filed an indictment just as the President left for G-20.In July…” By failing to put a space between the period and the “In” in the next sentence, that section became a link. When people clicked on that link, they found a splash page that read (and continues to read), “Donald J. Trump is a traitor to our country.”

After discovering the gaffe, Giuliani tweeted on Tuesday that he didn’t mistype the tweet. Instead, he said that “Twitter allowed someone to invade my text with a disgusting anti-President message.” He said that he tested a period not followed by a space after he sent the original tweet out and no link was created.

“Don’t tell me they are not committed cardcarrying anti-Trumpers,” Giuliani said of Twitter.

Twitter denied Giuliani’s allegations. A spokesperson told Fortune that the company’s “service worked as designed.” The spokesperson added that whenever someone tweets a Web address, a clickable link is automatically created.

“Any suggestion that we artificially injected something into the user’s account is false,” the spokesperson said.

Twitter allowed someone to invade my text with a disgusting anti-President message. The same thing-period no space-occurred later and it didn’t happen. Don’t tell me they are not committed cardcarrying anti-Trumpers. Time Magazine also may fit that description. FAIRNESS PLEASE

— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) December 5, 2018

Still, that doesn’t directly answer Giuliani’s claim that he couldn’t recreate the issue a second time. Twitter’s service is intelligent enough to know when something is a domain and something is not. A period directly followed by “In” refers to domains that live on India’s top-level domain. It’s similar to .co.uk in the United Kingdom or .us in the United States. If, however, someone were to remove the space after a period and follow that with random letters or words that aren’t assigned to a top-level domain, Twitter won’t automatically convert that into a link.

In other words, if Giuliani tried again to post something with a .In, it would create a link. But he tried to post a tweet with .rudygiuliani, for instance, it wouldn’t create a link.

Giuliani has some history with technology. In 2017, he said that he would serve as Trump’s cybersecurity czar.

About the Author
By Don Reisinger
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in

chad
Arts & EntertainmentLaw
The Black Panther’s tragic coda: Chadwick Boseman’s brothers want his widow removed from his estate — and held in contempt
By Reid Kress Weisbord, Naomi Cahn and The ConversationJuly 31, 2026
27 minutes ago
cuban
Arts & EntertainmentMark Cuban
Mark Cuban’s Las Vegas A’s investment is his ‘Sports 2.0’ Dallas Mavericks playbook all over again — with one key change
By Joshua HongJuly 31, 2026
41 minutes ago
var
AIWorld Cup
The World Cup’s VAR fights are a preview of every company’s AI rollout problem
By Pooya Tabesh and The ConversationJuly 31, 2026
56 minutes ago
After a nearly 1,000% surge, the AI debt orgy can’t last forever, while hidden borrowing has exploded to $1.65 trillion
Big TechDebt
After a nearly 1,000% surge, the AI debt orgy can’t last forever, while hidden borrowing has exploded to $1.65 trillion
By Jason MaJuly 31, 2026
1 hour ago
laptop
North AmericaEducation
The post-pandemic classroom is quietly ditching the laptop-for-every-kid model
By Janice Mak and The ConversationJuly 31, 2026
1 hour ago
‘Retiring backwards’: How cold economic reality forced Gen X into something like the reverse of baby boomers’ golden years
SuccessRetirement
‘Retiring backwards’: How cold economic reality forced Gen X into something like the reverse of baby boomers’ golden years
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 31, 2026
1 hour ago

Most Popular

He worked 100-hour weeks to save a nearly bankrupt boat company. At 83, he’s just turned down $400 million for it—and gave it all to charity instead
Success
He worked 100-hour weeks to save a nearly bankrupt boat company. At 83, he’s just turned down $400 million for it—and gave it all to charity instead
By Preston ForeJuly 29, 2026
2 days ago
The rise of 'conspicuous waiting': The 19th-century economic theory that explains why Gen Z posts their place in line
Retail
The rise of 'conspicuous waiting': The 19th-century economic theory that explains why Gen Z posts their place in line
By Tatiana SatauaJuly 31, 2026
10 hours ago
Costco's $14 million email settlement: Who qualifies for an up-to $500 payment and how to claim before the Aug. 24 deadline
Retail
Costco's $14 million email settlement: Who qualifies for an up-to $500 payment and how to claim before the Aug. 24 deadline
By Sydney LakeJuly 29, 2026
2 days ago
Tim Cook signed off on his final Apple earnings call with a warning about a ‘hundred year flood’ in memory chip pricing
Big Tech
Tim Cook signed off on his final Apple earnings call with a warning about a ‘hundred year flood’ in memory chip pricing
By Alexei OreskovicJuly 30, 2026
17 hours ago
'Am I paying for the vibes?' Gen Z says it hates capitalism, but their spending patterns show they just don't like being ripped off
Retail
'Am I paying for the vibes?' Gen Z says it hates capitalism, but their spending patterns show they just don't like being ripped off
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 30, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of oil as of July 30, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 30, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 30, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.