Twitter temporarily suspends Trends feature in Ethiopia over fear of violence
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The situation in Ethiopia has been heating up as state media said that the Ethiopian army had called on former army personnel to rejoin in order to fight Tigrayan forces moving towards Addis Ababa
Twitter Inc has temporarily disabled the Trends section in Africa's Ethiopia to ensure that the platform does not trigger violence in the conflict nation, the company said on Friday.
"We're monitoring the situation in Ethiopia and are focussed on protecting the safety of the conversation on Twitter," Twitter said.
It further added, "Inciting violence or dehumanising people is against our rules... Given the imminent threat of physical harm, we've also temporarily disabled Trends in Ethiopia."
The situation in Ethiopia has been heating up as state media said that the Ethiopian army had called on former army personnel to rejoin in order to fight Tigrayan forces moving towards Addis Ababa.
Nine anti-government factions have formed a new alliance with an aim of pushing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government out.
The year-long conflict has killed thousands of people and forced more than two million out of their homes.
The federal army has appealed to former army personnel to rejoin setting the deadline of November 24.
In the past week, the government and local authorities have also told civilians in the capital to register their weapons and prepare to defend their neighbourhoods.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also called for a ceasefire, saying, "The conflict in Ethiopia must come to an end."
The spokespeople for the Ethiopian government and the TPLF did not respond to requests for comment on Blinken's call. The government's communication department said in a statement "This is not a Country that Crumbles under Foreign Propaganda! We are fighting an existential war!"
(With inputs from agencies)