The micro blogging giant Twitter Inc has refused rumors that, “the social media messaging service will be shutting down in 2017, denouncing the claim as groundless”

"There is absolutely no truth to the claims whatsoever," a spokesman for Twitter said

Social media started buzzing with the hashtag #SaveTwitter early yestereday with more than 100,000 tweets mentioning the hashtag by early afternoon. It was unclear how the rumor started although some tweets said it originated from a Twitter user who complained about online bullying and Twitter's poor handling of such abuses.

Twitter has been criticized for not doing enough to police abusive behavior on the messaging service, and has struggled to find the right balance between free expression and blocking violent or hateful speech.