Twitter suspends accounts of 8 Serbian embassies around the world

Photo: Tanjug/AP

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that Twitter accounts of Serbian embassies in several countries have been suspended without any explanation.

The ministry assessed that such censorship of the diplomatic missions of a democratic state that is not under sanctions is inadmissible.

"We express hope that the blocking of the Twitter accounts of our diplomatic and consular offices is not part of an attempt to prevent and silence Serbia in the fight for the truth, above all about the situation in Kosovo and Metohija," said the statement.

The ministry added that Twitter accounts of the Serbian embassies in Armenia, Iran, Indonesia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Kuwait, as well as the Consulate General in Chicago, were suspended on August 18, "without any explanation or previous notice indicating possible violations of the rules communication on that social network."

"Without going into the business policy of Twitter the company, we point out that it is inadmissible for diplomatic missions of a democratic country that is not exposed to any sanctions to be censored in this way, especially taking into account that some of the said accounts were recently opened and were not active, and that there was no content on the other ones that could be described as inappropriate," said the statement, reports Beta.

It is added that Serbia is a country whose strategic commitment is membership in the European Union and which "aligns its political and democratic standards, including concerning media freedoms, with the highest European standards."

"That is why it is absurd that a number of our diplomatic and consular missions are censored on a social network that boasts about promoting democracy and pluralism of opinion," it is stated.

The ministry, headed by Nikola Selakovic, indicates that it has turned to Twitter with a request that the accounts of diplomatic and consular missions of Serbia be unblocked.

It is also stated that last week, "without any explanation," the Twitter account of the head of the Directorate for Cooperation with Diaspora and Serbs in the Region, Arno Gujon, was also suspended, but that it has since been unblocked.

(Telegraf.rs)