A Kiwi academic had her Twitter account restricted after she tweeted criticism of China.
China expert Professor Anne-Marie Brady had two tweets made unavailable after she tweeted satire about Xi Jinping and the 100-year anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.
After this, her account was restricted, with a warning coming up saying "there has been some unusual activity from this account".
"After my account was suspended many international China experts who are also on Twitter noticed and made a fuss, so about 18 hours later, Twitter unsuspended my account and made two tweets available again. They did not notify me or give any explanation," Prof Brady told Newshub.
It raised concern from activists and academics that it was a result of pressure from China, something Twitter categorically denies.
"To set the record straight, the assertion that Twitter is in coordination with any government to suppress speech has no basis in fact whatsoever. We advocate for a free, global and open internet and remain a staunch defender of freedom of expression," a spokesperson told Newshub.
"We can confirm that Twitter did not take any action against any of the tweets made by the referenced account. When we detect unusual activity from an account we may, in some cases, add notices temporarily until we have confirmation from the account owner. In this case, the account in question has already been recovered."
