For breaching Twitter’s rules, some accounts tied to the Ethiopian issue have been suspended.
Although Twitter did not provide a precise number, pro-Tigrayan users speculated that the number of accounts affected may be in the hundreds.
The social media business took this step because of “violations of the Twitter Rules, including indulging in hashtag and mention spam” – when certain hashtags and Twitter accounts are repeatedly included in tweets.
“This is in keeping with our ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of Twitter conversations about Ethiopia’s ongoing crisis.”
Several loud Twitter accounts supporting Tigrayan forces battling the Ethiopian government have reported losing hundreds of followers, while others have reported their friends being banned from the network.
While the majority of the affected accounts appear to be pro-Tigrayan, Twitter stated that it “objectively enforces its rules on material and accounts — we remain unbiased to political identification and ideology.”
Affected accounts have the right to dispute the judgment.
In recent months, social media corporations have been chastised for what critics claim is their silence in the face of allegations that their platforms are being used to disseminate hate and provocation.
Twitter’s Trends feature, which displays the most popular subjects at any given time, was briefly disabled for Ethiopia in November of last year.