Twitter suspends Houston Rockets account over music copyright

The Houston Rockets Twitter account was suspended on Monday for its use of copyrighted music, according to the NBA organization. 

“Our Twitter account has been temporarily suspended due to a few prior social media posts with copyrighted music,” the Rockets said in a statement regarding its 2.8 million-follower account. “We are working to correct the issue now.”

{mosads}The Rockets weren’t the only team impacted by the Twitter crackdown, with college football programs at Iowa State, Iowa, Auburn and Rutgers also seeing accounts for their respective teams temporarily suspended for copyright reasons. 

The decision to take down accounts for copyright infringement issues was also made last year, when several college football accounts were suspended before being restored the following day, including at the University of Texas, which has more than 230,000 followers. 

This isn’t the first the Houston Rockets have found trouble with Twitter. In 2015, the team fired digital communications manager Chad Shanks after he sent a tweet that drew considerable backlash on the social media giant.  

The tweet in question came when the Rockets were on the verge of eliminating the Dallas Mavericks. Shanks sent the tweet that included an emoticon of a pistol aimed at a horse’s head with the caption, “Shhhhh. Just close your eyes. It will all be over soon.”

The Rockets were eliminated again by the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors in the second round of the NBA playoffs this year.