Twitter suspends #YOLO hashtag following tweet from San Diego arsonist

Twitter spokeswoman Tammy Twiterrier today announced the social network's first-ever hashtag suspension, after a user posted a tweet that seemed to take credit for starting the Cocos fire near San Marcos. The as-yet-unidentified user, posting under the name SDFirebug, included a picture of the fire, along with the text "Living my dream and making my mark on the world. #YOLO."

YOLO, of course, stands for You Only Live Once, a saying that gained popularity after its inclusion in Drake's song "The Motto": You only live once, that's the motto nigga YOLO. Since its introduction into popular culture, it has inspired tweets ranging from the ridiculous ("Just made a bathtubful of margaritas. #YOLO") to the sublime ("I no longer believe in reincarnation. #YOLO.") But now that it has been credited with providing the motivation for a criminal act, Twitter has decided to suspend its use until further notice.

"Twitter has always been on the side of free expression," said Twiterrier, "from the Green Revolution in Iran to the leaking of government secrets, 140 characters at a time — call us Eddie! And we are also on the side of living life to the fullest. Unless that means stuff like starting fires or annexing countries. We're looking at you, Vladimir '#AllYourCrimeaAreBelongtoUs' Putin. So yeah, we're shutting down #YOLO."

"We've seen this sort of thing even before the rise of social media," said SDPD Internet Detective Sy Berspase. "A catchphrase like this has a way of working its way down through the layers of society. It starts out with the cultural drivers like Drake, then gets picked up by the cool kids. They burn out on it right around the time it hits the general public. The hipsters take over once it becomes thoroughly passe, and then finally, it winds up out on the fringe with the misfits. Who can forget Jeffrey Dahmer's appropriation of Alka-Seltzer's 'I can't believe I ate the whole thing?' or Saddam Hussein's 'It's my world, the rest of you are just dying in it'? This SD Firebug fellow even referenced 'living the dream,' but since he didn't hashtag it, I guess Twitter's in the clear on that one."