American Airlines Terrorism Tweet

Overview

The American Airlines Terrorism Tweet was a fake forewarning of a purported terrorist plot sent by a Dutch teenager to the major U.S. airline company American Airlines via Twitter in April 2014. The tweet, which hinted at an imminent attack to be carried out by an agent of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, quickly prompted the airline company to report the teenager's IP address to the authorities and the F.B.I, ultimately leading to her arrest in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Background

On April 13th, 2014, at 10:37 a.m. (ET), a 14-year-old Dutch teenager who goes by the Twitter handle @QueenDemetriax_ tweeted the following message at @AmericanAirlines:

Within five hours, the tweet garnered more than 7,400 retweets and 2,600 favorites prior to its removal and the suspension of the account from Twitter.

Notable Developments

Within minutes of receiving the tweet, American Airlines replied to the teenager stating that they take these type of threats really seriously and that they "forwarded her IP address to the authorities and the F.B.I."

Frightened by the serious tone of American Airlines' response, the teenager immediately began explaining that it was only meant to be a joke, with quotable tweets like "omfg i was kidding", "I'm so sorry, I'm scared now", "I was joking and it was my friend, not me, take her IP address, not mine", and lastly, "I was kidding pls don't i'm just a girl pls."

On the following day, it was reported that the teenager lived in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and she was promptly arrested by the Dutch police authorities.

Search Interest

External References