Ethiopians have demanded that Facebook be shut down for deleting a post by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed
Ethiopians have demanded that Facebook be shut down for deleting a post by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed
Facebook took down a post from Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's page because it violated the social media platform's anti-incendiary policies. Citizens were urged to use "any type of weapon" in order to halt the rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) advance on the Ethiopian capital, according to a social media post published on Sunday.
According to the Prime Minister, "our people should march... with whatever weapon and resources they have to defend, repel, and bury [the terrorist TPLF]."
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn made a post on Facebook that was removed because it violated Facebook's policies against inciting or supporting violence, according to a spokesperson for Meta Platforms Inc., the social media company's newly rebranded parent company. In response to questions, he stated in an emailed response:
It is our policy at Meta that we remove content that is posted by individuals or organizations that violates our community standards, regardless of who posted it.
Residents of the capital, Addis Ababa, were urged to defend their neighborhoods after the government declared a state of emergency across the country on Tuesday.
The Ethiopian People's Liberation Front and the Oromo Liberation Army have taken control of the strategic towns of Dessie and Kombolcha en route to the capital, as well as the town of Kemise, which is located north of Addis Ababa.
Crisis in Ethopia
In response to the TLPF bombing a military barracks in northern Tigray in November 2020, Abiy launched a military offensive in the region in November 2020. The conflict was originally intended to be brief, but it has turned into a protracted one as a result.
More than 2 million people have been displaced in a country that is already struggling economically, with thousands of people killed and thousands more killed.
In 2018, Mr Abiy Ahmed successfully resolved a long-standing territorial dispute with the neighboring country of Eritrea, earning him the Nobel Peace Prize for 2019. In Tigray, however, critics interpreted this move as an attempt to centralize power and undermine the country's federal system, prompting outrage.
