Ethiopia lashes out at Facebook for deleting PM’s post

Ethiopia’s federal government has accused Facebook of “spreading violence” after the platform deleted a post by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that urged citizens to take up arms and “bury” TPLF rebels.

In a statement on Facebook, the government said the social media giant “has shown its true colours by deleting our prime minister’s message”.

It also accused the Reuters news agency of “spreading misinformation by falsely reporting some cities have fallen to the enemy when they have not”.

Twitter it would not delete Abiy’s post as “it may be in the public’s interest for the tweet to remain accessible”.

Ethiopia has often criticised international media coverage of the conflict in the north of the country.