Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) speaks to Chinese President Xi Jingping during the BRICS meeting in Goa, India on October 16, 2016.
Prakash Singh | AFP | fake pictures
China’s Twitter-like service Weibo removed the account of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the request of the Indian embassy in Beijing.
The unusual move comes amid mounting tensions between India and China over their disputed border in the western Himalayas and a clash earlier this month that left 20 Indian soldiers dead.
India retaliated by banning 59 Chinese apps, including high-profile ones like TikTok and WeChat. Weibo is also on the list. New Delhi is also reportedly considering whether to allow Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei to participate in the deployment of the country’s next-generation 5G mobile networks.
Weibo announced Wednesday night that it had received a request from the Indian embassy in China to close Modi’s account.
“Weibo received a request from the Indian embassy in China, which said: ‘(I hope) Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official Weibo account will be removed from the platform,'” he said.
The Chinese microblogging platform complied with the request and announced that: “Weibo has closed what was certified as the account of the Prime Minister of India.”
The Indian embassy in Beijing was not immediately available for comment when CNBC contacted her.
Modi has been on Weibo since 2015, but posted infrequently.
His first post was written in Chinese and translated as: “Hello, China! I look forward to interacting with Chinese friends through Weibo.”
Because social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are effectively blocked in China, Weibo is an important way to communicate with a Chinese audience.
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