The Harvey Norman Twitter account has been deleted after some very weird behaviour on the platform over the past few days.
The account seems to have been deleted sometime on Tuesday. This was after whoever was controlling the account sent some odd tweets and blocked other accounts en masse.
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Wait, what’s going on with Harvey Norman?
This saga begins last Friday when Harvey Norman employees protested outside of stores across several Australian states to demand pay rises.
This was in the wake of the retailer refusing to pay back the $22 million in JobKeeper benefits it received during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This has raised serious concerns due to the fact that the company didn’t seem to need the cash injection. Harvey Norman profits rose 116 per cent during the latter half 2020, coming it at $462 million.
However, according to The Guardian, Harvey Norman will be paying out $249 million in dividends to shareholders, with $78 million going to Gerry Harvey personally.
People call the company out on Twitter
As a result of the protests, people began calling out Harvey Norman on Twitter.
Despite the bio saying it is no longer used for customer support and is “unmanned”, the account began blocking users criticising the company, including the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).
It wasn’t long until the hashtag, #BoycottHarveyNorman, began trending on Twitter on Sunday night.
“Guess they don’t like hearing about how they oppose minimum wage increases when their profits went up and they pocketed JobKeeper,” the ACTU account tweeted.
Harvey Norman blocked us????
Guess they don’t like hearing about how they oppose minimum wage increases when their profits went up and they pocketed JobKeeper.#PayTheWorkers pic.twitter.com/p5pngSpdy6
— Australian Unions (@unionsaustralia) May 28, 2021
It wasn’t just organisations or media that were being blocked by the Harvey Norman account, but also regular users:
Oh not nice Harvey Norman. I’m blocked! I did enjoy picketing your nipaluna Hobart store today though. How about repaying the Jobkeeper Gerry? pic.twitter.com/KUTZofbZ4h
— Scott Plimpton (@lowroader) May 28, 2021
The account also sent some questionable responses to Twitter users, including and kiss emoji and a facepalm and waving emoji.
The Harvey Norman Twitter account disappears
Since our report on Monday, the Harvey Norman Twitter account has been shut down. It now simply reads “This account doesn’t exist”.
At the present time it doesn’t seem like the retailer has any intention of addressing its behaviour on the social media platform.
Gizmodo Australia has contacted Harvey Norman repeatedly since Monday but is yet to receive a response.