'You've lost the plot mate'. Twitter mocks CIA 'live-tweet' of Osama op

The US Navy Seals carried out the biggest counterterrorism operation in the history of 21st century on May 2, 2011 when they took out dreaded Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden at his hiding place in Pakistan's Abbottabad. Five years later, a terribly lacklustre Central Intelligence Agency (@CIA on Twitter) decided to recreate that historic moment by, oh wait, "live-tweeting" the episode as if it were happening in real time.

The CIA twitter account said the step-by-step tweets would represent the raid at Bin Laden's Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound "as if it were happening today", ABC News reported. “The takedown of bin Laden stands as one of the great intelligence successes of all time. History has been a key element of CIA’s social media efforts,” CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani said, according to ABC. “On the fifth anniversary, it is appropriate to remember the day and honor all those who had a hand in this achievement.”

1:25 pm EDT-@POTUS, DCIA Panetta, & JSOC commander Admiral McRaven approve execution of op in Abbottabad.#UBLRaid pic.twitter.com/YhvuJVrMVc

— CIA (@CIA) May 1, 2016

Daring #UBLRaid was an IC team effort & in close collaboration with our military partners.https://t.co/rklCIRLlgF pic.twitter.com/xZObdGeqPR

— CIA (@CIA) May 1, 2016

3:30 pm EDT - @POTUS watches situation on ground in Abbottabad live in Situation Room#UBLRaid pic.twitter.com/59KPF7eUTr

— CIA (@CIA) May 1, 2016

Join us beginning at 1:25 p.m. EDT today as we tweet the #UBLRaid as if it were happening today. pic.twitter.com/x8EBpW571f

— CIA (@CIA) May 1, 2016

Obviously, this commemoration dressed as publicity stunt turned out to be a PR disaster, with social media panning it unequivocally as a tasteless exercise.

@CIA You've lost the plot mate

— Luke O'Neil (@lukeoneil47) May 1, 2016

This @cia 's social media campaign is serioulsy inappropriate... and I'll leave it at that. pic.twitter.com/KgzifdjVk7

— Liri Andersson (@liriandersson) May 2, 2016

Looking forward to the @cia "live-tweeting" the Bay of Pigs invasion on its anniversary.

— Jack Shafer (@jackshafer) May 1, 2016

Wish I was at the meeting where the @CIA decided this was a good idea https://t.co/dFSaEwdN8f

— Mani Gandham (@ManiGandham) May 1, 2016

Hey @CIA, Seymour Hersh says the op was drier than your deferred live-tweet. pic.twitter.com/E9ZLOiL36t

— Angiography (@angshukanta) May 2, 2016

CIA's run-in with the sneery side of social media began with their first tweet: “We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet." “They should put as least as much effort into following the law as they do into social media,” Amnesty International programme director Zeke Johnson reportedly said in the wake of CIA's Twitter debut.

We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet.

— CIA (@CIA) June 6, 2014