The tweets are coming in hot for #NetNeutality, following the FCC’s decision this afternoon to repeal net neutrality rules. Just one problem: there’s supposed to be an “r” in “neutrality.”
It’s not just individuals on Twitter. News outlets are also using the wrong hashtag:
What’s going on here? It’s possible that the misspelling was pushed by bots, in an effort to misdirect from the cause. Or tens of thousands of people spelled it incorrectly, and in the same way. It is kind of a hard word to type, n-e-u-t-r-a-l-i-t-y.
Either way, once a hashtag starts picking up steam, others are likely to adopt it, thanks to Twitter’s autocomplete feature. So now it’s trending.
The correct spelling is easily recognizable—Twitter has added a loading symbol next to any tweet using the hashtag #NetNeutrality. The company itself has explicitly come out in favor of net neutrality.