Twitter Arabs Mass Blocking
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Overview
Twitter Arabs Mass Blocking refers to a controversy surrounding the official Twitter account for the Arabic community on Twitter mass blocking accounts replying to its tweets, with users incorrectly assuming that the account was only blocking users supporting LGBTQ+ rights. The controversy spawned memes about "getting blocked by Twitter Arabs," particularly of the Meme Speedrun genre in February and March 2021.
Background
On February 24th, 2021, the official Twitter[1] account for the Arabic community, Twitter Arabs (@TwitterArabs), quote-retweeted a post by @TwitterTogether. On February 26th, several Twitter users reported that they got blocked by the account after replying to it, with a 2:11 p.m. post by Twitter[2] user @LordSithpost being the earliest found example of a user being blocked (shown below, left). At 4:03 p.m. on the same day, Twitter[3] user @Sunlyyte posted a Fernanfloo Dresses Up meme about users getting blocked by the account (shown below, right) that received over 130 retweets and 2,300 likes in one week.
Online Reactions
Starting on the same day, multiple Twitter users shared screenshots of them being blocked by the account after they replied to it with messages where they expressed support for LGBTQ+ rights (examples shown below). For example, a tweet[4] by user @Ter0me received over 250 retweets and 6,300 likes in one week (shown below, left).
On February 26th and in the following days, multiple users made memes about Twitter Arabs blocking users, including several Meme Speedrun memes. For example, a meme posted by Twitter[5] user @Cibles_ on February 27th received over 42,400 views, 190 retweets and 1,400 likes in one week (shown below).
On February 26th and 27th, Twitter users reported that the account blocked them for replies other than messages of LGBTQ+ support, including a photograph of a cat[7] and the word "welcome."[8]
Developments
On February 28th, 2021, Twitter Arabs tweeted[6] that mass blocking of users replying to the account was a result of a system error (seen below).
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Twitter – @TwitterArabs
[2] Twitter – @LordSithpost
[6] Twitter – @TwitterArabs
[7] Twitter – @OKLETSROCK
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