Twitter's Wendi Deng Gaffe: How It Happened

On Tuesday, it was revealed that a verified Twitter account with the handle @Wendi_Deng did not, in fact, belong to the wife of News Corp. CEO, Rupert Murdoch. 

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Both Twitter and the media corporation were duped by the false tweeter, who created the account shortly after Murdoch himself set up his own (real) social networking handle. 

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After the news broke, many wondered how the mistake could have been made. 

According to All Things D, it was a simple case of miscommunication. 

Wendi Deng Murdoch did actually have a Twitter, just not the one that was verified, the site reports. 

Her real account was @wendideng (screen name Wendi Murdoch) and it was opened last summer, but she hasn't been very active, only tweeting a few times. 

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So, when her husband created his account, Twitter included Murdoch and his wife's accounts in their verification process. 

But, the company messed up the @ address sent to them by Deng's assistant, thinking the correct account was the one with the underscore. Causing the parody account to be labeled as the real thing. 

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Twitter issued a statement, saying, "We don't comment on the verification process, but can confirm that the @wendi_deng account was mistakenly verified for a short time," a Twitter spokeswoman said. "We apologize for any confusion this caused."

And the fake Deng tweeter also copped to the coup, writing Tuesday, “Hello Twitter. As News International has finally come to their senses, it's time to confirm that yes, this is a fake account. I'm not Wendi." 

News Corp. has said they do not plan to take action against the company for its mistake.