China demands Twitter inquiry as ambassador to UK 'likes' porn tweet
China’s UK embassy has demanded Twitter carry out a “thorough” investigation and reserved the right to take further action after its ambassador’s account liked a pornographic post.
The embassy claimed Liu Xiaoming’s account had been “viciously attacked” on Wednesday, after it liked tweets including posts critical of the Chinese Communist party and a 10-second video of a sex act.
The likes remained active for at least an hour and were widely commented on before the pornographic tweet was unliked, and then later the others. Some hours later a spokesman for the London embassy released a statement condemning the alleged hack.
“Recently some anti-China elements viciously attacked ambassador Liu Xiaoming’s Twitter account and employed despicable methods to deceive the public. The Chinese embassy strongly condemns such abominable behaviour.
Related: Twitter deletes 170,000 accounts linked to China influence campaign
“The embassy has reported this to Twitter company and urged the latter to make thorough investigations and handle this matter seriously. The embassy reserves the right to take further actions and hope that the public will not believe or spread such rumour.”
Liu republished his embassy’s tweet, adding the caption: “A good anvil does not fear the hammer.”
Twitter declined to comment.
Twitter is among numerous social media platforms banned in China but the country’s diplomatic missions and staff around the world maintain accounts.
The company has become increasingly drawn into geopolitics. In June Twitter removed more than 170,000 accounts which it said were Chinese state-linked influence campaigns focusing on Hong Kong protests, Covid-19 and the US Black Lives Matter protests. It has also recently put mandatory labels on accounts affiliated with the Chinese government, including diplomats and state media. It has also limited several tweets by the US president, Donald Trump, including for “glorifying violence”.
Liu’s account, which has more than 85,000 followers, primarily shares good news stories from Chinese state media, praising updates of China’s coronavirus response, and rejections of reports on China’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
A video clip of Liu denying human rights atrocities in Xinjiang during an interview with the BBC, even when confronted with drone footage, was widely shared on Twitter in July.
A Twitter user “liking” a tweet on the platform does not republish it but the tweet does show up in a list easily accessible on their profile.
It can be relatively easy for a Twitter user to accidentally like a tweet, but that tweet must have shown up on a person’s Twitter feed or been sought out. The tweets in their feed primarily come from accounts they follow, or are retweeted by accounts they follow.
Liu follows just 14 accounts, mostly Chinese state media or official Chinese and UK government accounts, and the UK royal family.
