Bitly Links on Trump Posts Redirect to Unrelated Pages

Nearly two dozen social media posts from Donald Trump in the early 2010s now lead to unrelated Wikipedia pages and other content.

Updated on Nov. 15, 2026 in Internet

Bitly Links on Trump Posts Redirect to Unrelated Pages

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Website links on nearly two dozen social media posts from Donald Trump in the early 2010s were altered and now redirect to unrelated material. Shortened Bitly links on 2011 posts from McDonald's and Burger King were also redirected to unrelated Wikipedia pages.

Why it matters

The redirects show that shortened links on past posts can be changed by their account holders long after publication, so the destination of a link cannot be assumed to match what was originally shared. Bitly indicates the modified links do not expire.

Bitly links on the affected posts were replaced at specific times, with one changed at 12:34am and another at 12:48am on the day of reporting, and a McDonald's link changed at 5:14am. Bitly states the modified links do not expire and can be updated by their account holders, but the extraction does not say how many links remain unchanged.

The players

Donald Trump

Donald Trump is the current President of the United States and a longtime user of social media whose early 2010s posts are among those with altered links.

Bitly

Bitly is a link-shortening service whose shortened links on the affected posts were redirected, and which says the modified links can be updated by account holders.

McDonald's

McDonald's is the global fast-food chain whose 2011 Sweden social media post had its shortened link redirected to a Wikipedia page about the 9/11 attacks.

Burger King

Burger King is the global fast-food chain whose 2011 post had its shortened link redirected to a Wikipedia list of Nazi concentration camps, and which said the post was deleted.

The details

A June 2013 Trump post now previews the Wikipedia page for the Epstein files, and a post about wind turbines links to the online game 'Fortnite Baby Clicker'. A 2011 McDonald's Sweden post now previews the Wikipedia page for the 9/11 attacks, and a 2011 Burger King post links to a Wikipedia list of Nazi concentration camps, which a Burger King spokesperson called 'strange' while saying the post was deleted.

June 2013: Trump posted a link referencing 'Our clubhouse on the North Sea.'
2011: McDonald's and Burger King posts were published.
12:34am on the day of reporting: the wind turbine post's Bitly link was modified.
12:48am on the day of reporting: the June 2013 Trump post's Bitly link was replaced.
5:14am on the day of reporting: the McDonald's Bitly link was changed.

Under the Hood

Link-shortening services such as Bitly allow account holders to change where a short link points after the post is live, which the redirected Trump, McDonald's and Burger King posts illustrate. The episode shows that archived social media links can point to content unrelated to the original message.

Anyone who has clicked a shortened link on an older post may land on a different page than the one originally shared, so checking the destination before trusting a link is a practical step. Readers who rely on archived social posts should not assume a link still matches what was originally posted.

The takeaway

Shortened links can change after they are posted, so readers should check where a link leads before relying on it. The redirects on these archived posts show that the content behind an old link may no longer match its original context.