Twitter takes down China's 'baby-making machines' tweet on Uighur women
On the morning of January 7, the Chinese Embassy in the United States wrote a post on Twitter demeaning Uighur women. Ars Technica reporter Timothy B Lee had raised concerns about the tweet. Twitter initially refused to take action, claiming that the tweet was in compliance with its policies. But, now some recent events have forced Twitter to remove it, while acknowledging policy violation.
The press release from the official handle of the Chinese government's US embassy barely tries to conceal its intent. The tweet says China is in the process of "eradicating extremism" among the Uighurs, a process they claim has successfully "emancipated" Uighur women. "Gender equality and reproductive health were promoted, making them no longer baby-making machines," the embassy added.
For the unversed, ground reports from China highlight serious concerns over forced administration of intrauterine devices, abortions, and sterilization. These atrocities are perpetrated through detention camps, where Uighur Muslims families are sent for failing to observe birth control measures, even as the country's Han majority is encouraged to have more children. The Chinese Embassy's thinly veiled tweet barely manages to disguise these gruesome activities.
Timothy approached Twitter after the post went up, and sought its removal citing its violation of the hateful conduct policy. Twitter, however, responded stating the post was not in violation of aforementioned policy. Not soon after Twitter banned US President Donald Trump, the post was taken down as well. Twitter conveniently had a change of heart and found it in violation of its policies.
Since Twitter recently permabanned Donald Trump for inciting violence, their move to reconsider and eventually take down the Chinese Embassy post comes across as pre-emptive damage control. Twitter evidently doesn't fancy angering the Chinese government, but it would have been a bad look to ban Trump while ignoring genuine hate speech from an oppressive dictatorship that has been accused of running concentration camps.
