The Canadiens’ automated Twitter celebration became a nightmare of offensive tweets

The Montreal Canadiens passed one million Twitter followers Tuesday and used an automated Twitter script to celebrate the occasion with their fans. The idea was simple. Anyone who tweeted at the team with the #CanadiensMTL1M hashtag would get one of several customized replies. There were customized images, video messages from several players, and even a personalized Habs jersey. The idea may have been great on paper, but the result was a disaster.

Anything automated can quickly lead to trouble. That’s because there will always be loopholes and people eager to exploit them. The Canadiens Twitter account proceeded to rack up thousands of tweets around the occasion. Eventually, loathsome Twitter users began to take advantage. The results ranged from juvenile jokes to repulsive racial slurs.

Note: There is offensive language in the screenshots below.

That alleged Maple Leafs fan sure showed them with that joke.

While obnoxious, that sadly doesn’t even register on list of the worst users exploiting the automated script. While there is likely a filter in place to remove some offensive terms from the automated system, there are many ways around it. Replacing a letter with a number will do the trick. That allowed a number of abhorrent slurs to slip through and even make their way onto the customized jerseys.

Similar tactics were used to generate a wide range of replies.

P.K. Subban was a target of the troll accounts. He was also one of several players to participate in thank you videos to followers. That led to some unfortunate situations in which the Canadiens would reply to an offensive account that used a racial slur with a video of Subban thanking the account for being a follower.

The entire fiasco was another sad reminder that if you give people the chance to be repugnant, they will be repugnant. Even if it’s under the guise of a prank or whatever they say to justify being terrible and offensive.