FLOTUS Twitter account sending DM spam to people who don't even follow her?

The Obama campaign has been spamming Twitter followers via direct message for a while now.

Normally, you can only send a direct message to someone who follows you on Twitter. But today, Reuters columnist Anthony DeRosa revealed that he received a DM from @MichelleObama even though he doesn’t follow her. And he wasn’t the only one:

Me too! RT @AntDeRosa: Received a DM from @MichelleObama again, even though I don't follow her. Hey @Twitter, what's up with that?

— Samantha Baier (@SamABaier) November 6, 2012

Me too RT @AntDeRosa: Received a DM from @MichelleObama again, even though I don't follow her. Hey @Twitter, what's up with that?

— Robin Respaut (@RobinRespaut) November 6, 2012

Odd, we’d think spam wouldn’t be on the first lady’s approved menu.

So what’s going on here? One possibility:

@AntDeRosa "Twitter has given some accounts the ability to receive DMs from accounts they don’t follow…must opt-in" http://t.co/gOBA8m3l

— Stefan Becket (@becket) November 6, 2012

In July, Mashable reported, “Twitter has given some accounts the ability to receive DMs from accounts they don’t follow. Accounts with this feature must opt in.”

Did these Twitter users “opt in,” or is the FLOTUS account just special?

Twitchy will let you know if other Twitter users who don’t follow the first lady report similar direct message spam.