The Twitter app is uploaded to an iPhone in this illustration photo taken in Los Angeles, California.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Twitter said it was blocking the account of the Chinese embassy in the United States for a tweet about Uyghur women that violated the company’s policy against dehumanization.
The Chinese embassy account, @ChineseEmbinUS, tweeted this month that Uyghur women had been emancipated by the government’s policy of “baby machines.” The tweet cited a study reported by the state-controlled China Daily, Reuters reported.
“We have taken action in the Tweet … to violate our policy against dehumanization, where it says: We prohibit the dehumanization of a group of people based on their religion, caste, age, disability, serious illness, national origin, race , or ethnicity, “a Twitter spokesman told CNBC in a statement.
Ethnic Uighurs, a Muslim minority living in western China, have been repressed by the Chinese government for years, according to the United Nations, the United States and the United Kingdom.
China has repeatedly denied Uyghur ill-treatment, most recently on Wednesday, when its Foreign Ministry responded angrily to former U.S. state ex-policeman Mike Pompeo’s description of Uyghur politics as “genocide.” .
Twitter removed the tweet and replaced it with a tag indicating it was no longer available.
A screenshot of the Twitter account of the Chinese embassy in the US showing a tweet that was removed by the social media company.
The social media giant service condition statements that tweets that violate its policies are hidden and that accounts are blocked or that some features are temporarily restricted. Users must manually delete the tweets in question if they want the account to be completely restored.
The account of the Chinese embassy in the United States was last published on January 9th.
The Chinese embassy in the U.S. did not immediately respond to a request sent by email from CNBC to send comments outside normal business hours.
Earlier this month, Twitter permanently suspended President Donald Trump’s account. The company said the decision was made “because of the risk of inciting violence.”
Twitter, along with Facebook and Google, is banned in China.