{"id":68502,"date":"2020-04-19T07:19:14","date_gmt":"2020-04-19T12:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=68502"},"modified":"2020-04-19T07:19:14","modified_gmt":"2020-04-19T12:19:14","slug":"twitter-suspends-and-restores-colombo-chinese-embassys-handle-during-the-undiplomatic-social-media-war-between-the-mission-and-sri-lankan-tweeters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=68502","title":{"rendered":"Twitter Suspends and Restores Colombo Chinese Embassy’s Handle During the Undiplomatic Social Media War Between the Mission and Sri Lankan Tweeters"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Twitter is rarely short of drama. Except that last week, Sri Lanka\u2019s Twitter bubble saw some of it originate from an unlikely source \u2014 the official handle of the Chinese Embassy here.<\/p>\n

It all began with a letter dated April 8, from the Embassy, addressed to the chairman of the privately-run Wijeya Newspapers group. In the letter, which was also released to the media, mission spokesperson Luo Chong took a strong objection to three pieces on COVID-19 published in two of the group\u2019s publications \u2014 Daily Mirror and Sunday Times.<\/p>\n

One of the articles was an interview, headlined \u201cSri Lanka must ensure China is held accountable\u201d, with an American Lawyer who has filed a lawsuit against Chinese authorities, whom he blames for the global pandemic. The second, titled \u201cChina accused of negligence\u201d, was an interview with the head of a local consumer rights organisation. The third, the Embassy\u2019s letter said, was a column that referred to COVID-19 as \u201cWuhan COVID\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Chinese mission accused the articles of lacking \u201cbasic facts, knowledge and compassion\u201d, and said they were \u201cfull of\u201d prejudice, racism and hate speech. The six-page letter urged media in general and the 40-year-old Wijeya Newspapers in particular to play a \u201cmore responsible and constructive role in this war\u201d.<\/p>\n

Both the content and tone of the letter drew quick reactions on social media. \u201cSo Chinese diplomats now advise #lka media how to run newspapers? Spox of China Emb in Cmb writes open letter to Chair of Wijeya Newspapers about \u201c3 irresponsible articles\u201d in @Dailymirror_SL & @TimesOnlineLK . What do Chinese babus know of #PressFreedom?\u201d tweeted Nalaka Gunawardene, a writer and media analyst. In a thread on April 9, Mr. Gunawardene said though he had critiqued the newspapers for their \u201clapses and biases\u201d, he stood by their right to carry op-eds with critical viewpoints.<\/p>\n

Media freedom<\/strong><\/p>\n

In its reply to the Embassy, the Daily Mirror stood its ground and \u201creiterated\u201d that it provides a forum for diverse viewpoints and that the articles referenced by the mission were carried as per the journalistic tradition of respecting expression of different opinions.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, many others also challenged the Chinese Embassy on its position. \u201cSo, you can present your position. But other people can also present a different position \u2014 unlike in China,\u201d tweeted @indica, a blogger.<\/p>\n

While Twitter users taking on official tweets is not uncommon, official handles responding to those tweets is. Surprisingly, the mission decided to respond to several critics individually. \u201cDoes #PressFreedom allow any baseless hatred speech be published and the media has no responsibility for its publication? No #PressFreedom for China and China can\u2019t present its position? Discussion about the pandemic should focus on #COVID19 itself, isn\u2019t it?\u201d @ChinaEmbSL said in a response.<\/p>\n

Even as the spat between a resident foreign mission and citizens of the host country raised eyebrows, in an intriguing move, Twitter suspended the Chinese Embassy handle on April 13. Evidently, the Chinese mission\u2019s views didn\u2019t go well with Sri Lankans. But it wasn\u2019t clear why Twitter chose to suspend the mission\u2019s handle \u2014 it was arguably combative, not abusive. According to Twitter\u2019s suspension policy, the decision to suspend Twitter accounts are commonly driven by three reasons \u2014 spam or fake; accounts at security risk or hacked handles, and those with \u201cabusive\u201d tweets.<\/p>\n

The following day, the Embassy tweeted that Twitter had suspended its account without any specific reason. \u201cThe Embassy made solemn representation twice, requesting to clarify and correct. This morning, Twitter replied for a \u2018systematic mistake\u2019, apologised and unsuspended our account,\u201d the handle said, adding freedom of speech must be honoured without \u201cdouble standards\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka responded to the development from the highest levels. \u201cWe welcome the reinstating of the Official Twitter Account of the Chinese Embassy in Colombo @ChinaEmbSL,\u201d Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardene tweeted.<\/p>\n

After a week of twists and turns, the Embassy\u2019s Twitter handle is now back to sharing official updates regularly. On Friday, it tweeted on Wuhan\u2019s revised number of COVID-19 cases and fatalities, and about Chinese aid to help Sri Lanka contain the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

The handle may be back in business, but it hasn\u2019t been able to escape difficult questions from Sri Lankans. \u201cSo now Twitter has unbanned you. Can you now unban Twitter in China?\u201d @indica asked in a tweet.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Meera Srinivasan Twitter is rarely short of drama. Except that last week, Sri Lanka\u2019s Twitter bubble saw some of it originate from an unlikely source \u2014 the official handle of the Chinese Embassy here. It all began with a letter dated April 8, from the Embassy, addressed to the chairman of the privately-run Wijeya …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Twitter Suspends and Restores Colombo Chinese Embassy’s Handle During the Undiplomatic Social Media War Between the Mission and Sri Lankan Tweeters’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68502"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68502"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68503,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68502\/revisions\/68503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}