More accounts linked to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), which has been designated by the government as a terrorist organization, have been taken down on the social media site Twitter.
CPP鈥檚 chief information officer, Marco Valbuena, said the Twitter accounts of the Philippine Revolution Web Central (@prwc_info3), Ang Bayan (@cpp_angbayan) and his account (@cpp_mv), as well as 鈥渟everal others鈥� were 鈥渟uspended or taken down without warning鈥� on Friday.
The websites of the CPP and its affiliate organizations remained accessible as of this writing.
鈥楾o silence dissent鈥�
The takedown of the Twitter accounts happened a week after the CPP confirmed the death of its top two leaders, Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, at the hands of the military, and days after its political wing, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), marked its 50th anniversary on April 24.
鈥淯ndoubtedly, this is part of the permanent online crackdown against the CPP and other groups to silence anti-imperialist dissent and prevent the spread of the message of revolutionary resistance in the country,鈥� Valbuena said in a statement on Saturday.
According to CPP, the crackdown of their accounts by Twitter was 鈥渋nstigated by the US and Marcos governments 鈥� and part of the heightening suppression of the freedom of speech under rising fascism worldwide.鈥�
Representatives of the social media company were not immediately available for comment. Twitter鈥檚 policy, last updated in April, warns against content that foments hate and violence.
鈥淭here is no place on Twitter for violent and hateful entities, including (but not limited to) terrorist organizations, violent extremist groups, perpetrators of violent attacks, or individuals who affiliate with and promote their illicit activities,鈥� it said.
Earlier takedowns
In June last year, Twitter purged a number of accounts linked to the CPP, including that of its late founding chair Jose Maria Sison, for violating its rules on safety, particularly on terrorism. Sison died in the Netherlands on Dec. 16, 2022.
The suspensions came also after Facebook and Google censored and closed the social media and email accounts of the CPP in April that year. Sine Proletaryo, the multimedia arm of the CPP, had its YouTube account taken down in 2018.
The CPP, NDFP and its guerrilla force the New People鈥檚 Army (NPA), were designated by the Anti-Terrorism Council as terrorist organizations in 2021.
The CPP and NPA are also listed as terrorist organizations by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.