Hours ago, Twitter blocked the official account for the Chinese Embassy in U.S. after a post that defended the Beijing government’s policies in the western region of Xinjiang, according to bloomberg report. That move came after Chinese Embassy account, posted saying that Uighur women were no longer “baby making machines,” citing a study reported by state-backed newspaper China Daily.
Meanwhile, the post wasn’t removed by Twitter until more than 24 hours later. It has been replaced by a label saying, “This tweet is no longer available.” Even though Twitter hides tweets that violate its rules, it still requires the account owner to manually delete the post in order to regain access to the account.
“We have taken action on this Tweet for violating our policy against dehumanization,” a Twitter spokesman noted in a statement. Twitter prohibits the “dehumanization of a group of people based on their religion, caste, age, disability, serious disease, national origin, race, or ethnicity.”
On other hand, Xinjiang, a far western region that borders Central Asia, is home to the predominantly Muslim Uighur ethnic group. China denies human rights violations and says its actions in Xinjiang are necessary to counter a separatist and terrorist threat.
The embassy’s account suspension comes after the firm removed the account of former U.S. President Donald Trump, which had 88 million followers, citing the risk of violence after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol this month.
Twitter had locked Trump’s account, asking for deletion of some tweets, before restoring it and then removing it altogether after the former President violated the platform’s policies again.
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