This article has been changed from its original form to correct an erroneous statement that Bit.ly has blocked 200 links from Andreas Antonopoulos' book. Our editorial team would like to apologize for the error.
Social media commentators are criticizing URL shortening service Bit.ly (Bitly) after a Twitter user warned Andreas Antonopoulos Nov. 3 that the service had blocked an unspecified number of crypto-related links from his book.
Antonopoulos, author of several well-known guides to Bitcoin, quizzed Bitly on Twitter over the block, which allegedly concerns a link in “Mastering Ethereum,” due for publication in around four weeks.
“Why are you blocking http://bit.ly links to crypto-currency sites?” he asked, adding:
“I'm about to publish my 4th book and it has about 200 http://bit.ly links in it. If you are going to block links, I will need to remove all 200 and replace them with a competitor[.]”
Although Antonopoulus noted that his book has 200 Bitly links, he did not specify how many of them were allegedly blocked by the Bitly service.
Bitly appeared not have publicly responded as of press time Nov. 5, while commentators were quick to come to Antonopoulos’ defence, calling for a move away from “centralized” link shorteners.
Responding to his tweet, one user paraphrased Antonopoulos’ well-known soundpiece about Bitcoin ownership which regularly appears in talks and online Q&A sessions.
“Don’t rely on bitly or ANY shortener service. They are all a single point of failure,” one wrote, adding:
“Not your keys, not your bitcoin? Not your (shortener), not your link.”
Last week, Antonopoulos’ renowned book, ‘Mastering Bitcoin,’ courted separate controversy after Chinese state television unexpectedly showcased it, revealing that the Mandarin version of its title lacked all references to Bitcoin.