Bahtiyar Duysak was born and raised in Germany, but his claim to fame is pulling the plug on Donald Trump’s Twitter account for 11 minutes on Nov. 2.
“Duysak, a twenty-something with Turkish roots,… was working as a contractor for a fixed term for the last part of his stay in the U.S. under a work and study visa. In addition to his role at Twitter with Pro Unlimited, other assignments had included stints in monetization at Google and YouTube via another contractor, Vaco.”
His job at Twitter offices in San Francisco was helping shut accounts that violated Terms of Service.
“He worked up until the last hour before his computer access was to be shut off,” TechCrunch said. “Near the end of his shift, the fateful alert came in.”
As a final move, the site said, Duysak began the process of deactivating Trump’s account — even though executives had already rebuffed efforts to close it down. (It was “newsworthy,” they said.)
“Then he closed his computer and left the building,” said authors Ingrid Lunden and Khaled “Tito” Hamze.
Hours later, Duysak learned what happened, and told TechCrunch the event was a “mistake.”
“Specifically, he told us, he never thought the account would actually get deactivated.”
BuzzFeed added details: “Duysak has a master’s in banking and finance from University of Birmingham in England and finished a postgraduate program at California State University, East Bay, in Hayward, Calif., according to a person close to him.
“Duysak was also head of the university’s Turkish Student Association. A Facebook page for the contractor said he was a member of the school’s startup scene, while another related post showed him as a former volunteer security guard at a Bay Area Muslim community center.”
Twitter filled with praise:
Imagine making the world a better place for 11 minutes and being referred to only as “twitter employee” smh this hero’s name is Bahtiyar Duysak https://t.co/FLWQqTtv5B
— Herbo (@HerbMcDerb) November 30, 2017
All I’m saying is that the Nobel Prize committee needs submissions by February and this is the guy that shut down Trumps twitter account (Bahtiyar Duysak) pic.twitter.com/noVSMkfzBh
— Avery (@AveryChamp) November 30, 2017
The man who silenced Donald Trump!
We thank you for your service Bahtiyar Duysak! #11Minutes Trump’s Twitter pic.twitter.com/ffb7BLhL76
— Tony (@ImKnotTheOne) November 29, 2017
Nothing but respect for MY Person of the Year — #BahtiyarDuysak pic.twitter.com/xTij1wknuI
— kam ▲ (@kamerontyler) November 30, 2017
Ayy @TIME, forget that list you have. This guy, Bahtiyar Duysak, for deactivating Trump’s twitter, deserves to be Person Of The Year ???????? pic.twitter.com/73I6nTrzhU
— Monica LeWhiskey (@Incognitah_) November 30, 2017