NYPD Twitter Campaign Backfires Big Time

Feed flooded with pics of police brutality
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 23, 2014 1:52 AM CDT
NYPD Twitter Campaign Backfires Big Time
This photo from an Occupy Wall Street protest is among the many put on Twitter in response to a NYPD request for Twitter users to share pictures of themselves posing with police officers.    (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

A New York City Police Department campaign to get Twitter users to share photos of themselves with officers got a massive response—but not the kind the department had in mind. Instead of citizens posing with friendly cops, the #MyNYPD tag became the top trending hashtag on Twitter with thousands of photos of police brutality, Occupy Wall Street arrests, and headlines about unarmed citizens being shot, reports the New York Daily News. (See plenty of examples at the Daily Dot.)

"Free massages from the #NYPD," read one tweet with a picture of riot cops pressing a man against a car. There were a few friendly submissions but they were massively outnumbered by those slamming the department, NBC notes. In a statement, the NYPD said it is "creating new ways to communicate effectively with the community" and "Twitter provides an open forum for an uncensored exchange and this is an open dialogue good for our city." (More Twitter stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X