September 11,2013 marks the 12th anniversary of US’s biggest tragedy of the 21th century. However, at 12:15 pm ET,the focus of the citizens had shifted to a tweet by the AT&T Inc., which caused much rage and curse.
The original tweet showed a hand holding a smartphone with its camera capturing the Tribute in Light memorial, which featured the twin towers as two beans of light. There was also a caption that says ” Never Forget”.
The bold tweet drew immediate attention from the whole nation. Twitter users accused AT&T of “exploiting a national tragedy”, and some even threatened to switch to another carrier.
Although the tweet was replaced by an apology in just one hour, US citizen’s impression of the nation’s biggest mobile phone and fixed phone provider had been inevitably damaged.
The public had probably assumed that it is every American’s responsibility to remember and ensure that the purpose of the annual remembrance ceremony remains unchanged. However, the company’s action was not illegal under the law, and whether AT&T violated business ethics cannot be judged solely by individual’s subjective opinion.

Sources:
https://mobile.twitter.com/ATT http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/11/technology/social/att-9-11-tweet/index.html?iid=HP_LN