The Twitter app is loaded onto an iPhone in this photographic illustration taken in Los Angeles, California.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Twitter said it blocked the account of the Chinese embassy in the United States because of a tweet about Uighur women that violated the company’s policy against dehumanization.
The Chinese embassy account, @ChineseEmbinUS, tweeted this month that Uighur women were emancipated by the government’s policy of being “baby-making machines”. The tweet cited a study reported by the state-run China Daily, Reuters reported.
“We acted on Tweet … for violating our policy against dehumanization, which states: We prohibit the dehumanization of a group of people based on their religion, caste, age, disability, serious illness, nationality, race, or ethnicity,” he said a Twitter spokesperson to 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 mistreatment of Uighurs, most recently on Wednesday, when its Foreign Ministry responded angrily to the characterization of former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of Uighur politics as “genocide”.
Twitter removed the tweet and replaced it with a label saying it was no longer available.
A screenshot of the Twitter account of the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. showing a tweet that has been removed by the social media company.
The social media giant terms of service states that tweets that violate your policies are hidden and accounts are blocked or some resources are temporarily limited. Users need to manually delete the tweets in question if they want the account to be fully restored.
The Chinese embassy account in the United States was last tweeted on January 9.
The Chinese embassy in the United States did not immediately respond to CNBC’s email request for comments sent outside normal business hours.
Earlier this month, Twitter permanently suspended President Donald Trump’s account. The company said the decision was made “due to the risk of further incitement to violence”.
Twitter – along with Facebook and Google – has been banned in China.