Twitter first tagged the tweet with a disclaimer and then deleted it.
Paris:
Social networking platform Twitter deleted former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s tweet on Thursday for violating his rules banning the glorification of violence, shortly after a violent knife attack in Nice that left three dead .
The tweet sparked an explosion of anger on social media, with many users calling out for the former Malaysian prime minister.
Cedric O, the French digital secretary also condemned the post and urged Twitter to suspend the former Malaysian prime minister’s account and said in a tweet: “Otherwise, Twitter would be complicit in a formal call for the murder. “
“I just spoke with the Managing Director of Twitter France. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s account must be immediately suspended. Otherwise, Twitter would be complicit in a formal call for the murder,” Cédric O tweeted.
Twitter initially tagged the tweet with a disclaimer stating the post was breaking its rules but was being left out because it was in the public interest. The networking site then deleted the tweet completely, but left the rest of the Twitter feed intact.
It follows French President Emmanuel Macron’s criticism of radical Islam after a school teacher was beheaded by an 18-year-old for showing cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed in class.
In a series of 13 tweets, Mahathir Mohamad posting from his personal Twitter handle lashed out at Macron for not being “civilized” and for being “very primitive by blaming the religion of Islam and Muslims for the murder of school teacher “.
The French secretary of state’s remarks come after another attack was observed on Thursday in which a man wielding a knife killed two women and a man in the Notre-Dame basilica in Nice and injured several other. The police arrested the assailant and opened an investigation on the grounds of terrorism.
The attack in Nice was followed by an attempted stab in the city of Avignon in south-eastern France, and another at the French consulate in Saudi Arabia.
A few days ago, Samuel Paty, a schoolteacher, was beheaded by an 18-year-old on the outskirts of Paris after showing cartoons depicting the prophet during a class. Paty was posthumously awarded France’s highest honor, the Legion of Honor, and was commemorated during the national ceremony at the Sorbonne University in Paris.
