The social media platform refused to take action against British online blogger and former U.K. Member of Parliament Louise Mensch's post provoking violence against a journalist covering the war in Ukraine.
Mensch asked the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces to target Canadian journalist Eva Bartlett, who was reporting the Ukrainian use of petal or butterfly mines in residential areas of Donetsk. Bartlett tweeted about the horrible injuries caused by these mines and recorded her experiences on her Telegram channel.
These cluster mines are prohibited under international humanitarian law and their use is considered a war crime under the Geneva Convention. These deadly weapons appear as toys for children, but they will tear and rip limbs apart if picked up or trampled on.
The Twitter mess happened when one Twitter account asked Bartlett if she was "on the scene" in Donbas. After Bartlett answered "yes," Mensch wrote: "Hear that @SOF_UKR?"
According to journalist George Eliason, who is based in Ukraine since before 2014, that was a flagrant violation of international law that should protect users against what qualifies as cyberterrorism. However, Twitter said Mensch "hadn't broken their safety policies."
Interestingly, at least one account was suspended for calling out Mensch. This leads to multiple tweets accusing Twitter of supporting fascism.
One user tweeted: "Hmm @TwitterSupport took down @FiorellaIsabelM’s tweet exposing @LouiseMensch’s call for a hit on journalist Eva Bartlett & is preventing Fiorella from accessing her account until she deletes the tweet, but it won't remove Mensch's call for death? Is Twitter protecting fascists?"
The Morning Star International Editor Steve Sweeney has also demanded a response from Twitter: So @FiorellaIsabelM is locked out of her account but @LouiseMensch tweet encouraging Ukrainian forces to kill @EvaKBartlett is absolutely fine? Care to explain this one @TwitterComms? I'll be writing a news story about it (again) tomorrow so will be in touch for comment."
Also, those who retweeted Bartlett's graphic images of injuries from the mines were either suspended or forced to remove the so-called "offending" tweets.
Ukraine violates Ottawa Convention
Ukraine approved the Ottawa Convention in 2005, but it looks like Kyiv has violated its international obligations.
The Ottawa Convention, which is also known as the Mine Ban Treaty, prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines (APLs) and it requires states-parties to destroy their stockpiled APLs within four years and remove all APL holdings, including mines presently planted in the soil, within 10 years.
Russia has already provided the additional information asked by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Security Council Chairman Zhang Jun, which contains photographic evidence.
This follows attacks by Ukrainian forces, who bombarded Donetsk at the end of July. The missiles struck the city center at the intersection of Vatutin Boulevard and Universitetskaya. Many civilians were reportedly injured and killed. (Related: Investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald reveals truth about Ukraine's Zelensky in brutal Twitter thread.)
Mensch is not only allowing these crimes and the maiming of civilians to go on, but she also wants Ukraine's Special Operations Forces to hunt down Bartlett.
Follow Censorship.news for more news about investigative reporters being censored by social media platforms.
Watch the video below about Twitter censoring The Highwire.
This video is from The HighWire with Del Bigtree channel on Brighteon.com.
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