Twitter locks account of Chinese Embassy in US over Uighur tweet

This article is more than 12 months old

Jan 22, 2021 06:00 am

BEIJING : Twitter yesterday said it has locked the account of the Chinese Embassy in the US over a tweet claiming Uighur women were no longer "baby-making machines" after their minds had been "emancipated".

A Twitter spokesman said it took action against the tweet for "violating our policy against dehumanisation".

More than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are believed to be held in re-education camps in the country's Xinjiang region, where China is also accused of forcibly sterilising women. China denies the accusations and says the facilities are not camps, but job training centres to steer people away from terrorism.

On Jan 7, the Chinese Embassy in the US tweeted that "in the process of eradicating extremism", the minds of Uighur women "were emancipated and gender equality and reproductive health were promoted, making them no longer baby-making machines".

China's Foreign Ministry yesterday said it did not understand Twitter's decision to impose the restrictive measures, saying China was a "major victim" of "fake and ugly information... in relation to the Xinjiang issue".

"We hope Twitter will uphold the principles of objectivity and fairness... strengthen its screening, and screen out what is actually disinformation," said spokesman Hua Chunying. - AFP