The director of the Massachusetts State Government website, Mass.gov, has issued an apology after the tweet, "sexual assault is always avoidable", was posted on the website's official Twitter account, @MassGov.

The original message, which was posted just as America's Sexual Assault Awareness month drew to a close, prompted an angry backlash on Twitter, with many accusing @MassGov for victim blaming and calling for the post to be deleted.

In response to the tweet, which has now been deleted, one woman wrote, "The only person to blame for rape is the rapist"'.

The director of Mass.gov, Geoff Kula, said in a statement on Thursday that there was "no malicious intent behind the tweet".

"The tweet inaccurately summarized the content in the linked-to blog post, which discussed services available for victims of sexual assault," continued Kula. "The tweet author agrees that perpetrators of sexual assault are always at fault, and it was never the author’s intent to blame victims for crimes perpetrated."

Kula also issued a statement across a series of tweets:

Massachusetts government sparks outrage after tweeting "Sexual assault is always avoidable"