Twitter Turns Off Trends Feature In Ethiopia To Ward Off Violence In That Country

Twitter does not want its platform to be used in violence in Ethiopia. (photo: doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA – Twitter has temporarily disabled the Trends feature in Ethiopia to ensure that the platform cannot be used to incite violence in the conflict-torn country. This was confirmed by a social media source I on Saturday, November 6.

"We are monitoring the situation in Ethiopia and are focused on protecting the safety of conversations on Twitter. Instigating violence or demeaning people is against our rules," Twitter said. They also added that twitter has temporarily disabled Trends in the country to "reduce the risk of coordination that could incite violence or cause harm."

Northern Ethiopia has been beset by internal conflict since October last year, when the central government accused the PNLF of attacking a military base and launching a retaliatory operation in Tigray. Neighboring Eritrea supports the Ethiopian government, although in the spring of 2021 it is said to have withdrawn its troops from Tigray.

In June, rebels seized Tigray's administrative center, the town of Mekelle, and the government declared an unconditional ceasefire. The rebels, however, later said they would launch a new offensive. They took control of part of Tigray, and entered the Amhara Territory, which brought them one step closer to the nation's capital, Addis Ababa.