China Embassy in Sri Lanka says must honour free speech as Twitter restores account

After Twitter had suspended the official account of Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka, on April 14, the microblogging site reinstated the account and reportedly said that it was a ‘systematic mistake’. The embassy took to Twitter and stated that after they made a ‘solemn representation twice’, the social media platform reinstated their Twitter handle @ChinaEmbSL.

The embassy also added that ‘freedom of speech’ must be honoured and should not be ‘misused’ to spread ‘groundless, racist or hate speech, nor be treated with double standards’. 

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The embassies Twitter handle had been suspended on Monday, however, the microblogging site said that it was a ‘systematic mistake’. According to the embassy, the website also apologised. This is not the first time that their Twitter handle had been suspended. 

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'Can you unban Twitter in China?'

The embassy had previously also engaged in ‘war of words’ with several users on Twitter and the microblogging website had suspended the account. However, in recent days, the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka had been posting information about the pandemic and still their account got suspended. 

In a series of tweets, the embassy also said, “Whether or not Twitter freezes its account will not affect the unremitting efforts of the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka, which is dedicated to China-Sri Lankan friendship and pragmatic cooperation, nor will it hinder China's leading role in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic”.

When a user asked if they could unban Twitter in China, the embassy replied saying, “We follow the rules of Twitter, so they apologized for the mistake and reopened. We believe if Twitter could follow the laws and rules of China, the market might also be opened to them. Billions of users on WeChat & Weibo. SL banned Twitter too when they violated domestic laws”. 

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