No need to #SaveTwitter: The social network is not shutting in 2017

Twitter has exploded with rumors that it is being killed off next year due to cyberbullying. In fact, the social network is going nowhere.

Katie Collins Senior European Correspondent

Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a "living synth" by London's Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.

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Katie Collins

Aug. 11, 2016 6:32 a.m. PT

Twitter is here to stay.
Jaap Arriens, NurPhoto via Getty Images

Twitter descended into a meta-frenzy Thursday morning as rumors spread that the social network would be shutting down in 2017 due to problems with cyberbullying. Users of the site panicked to such an extent that #savetwitter started trending.

But it turns out that Twitter does not need saving after all.

Fortunately for the avid tweeters of the world, the rumors are unfounded. Twitter representatives have assured CNET that there is no truth at all in the claims. It's unclear where the news started, but the tweets about it have been pouring in thick and fast.

It's possible that the story was perpetuated by the fact that Twitter is not exactly thriving right now. Speculation over the company's future is rife due to the social network's mixed results following its efforts to attract new users and its falling sales revenue. It has also suffered criticism of its inability to effectively deal with trolling -- a longstanding problem aggravated by the abuse suffered by "Ghostbusters" star Leslie Jones in July.