Twitter has suspended the account of Nigeria’s militant group Niger Delta Avengers that has carried out a series of attacks on oil facilities in the country over the last few months.
The attacks on the oil facilities led to the West African country recording a 30-year low in crude production.
The Niger Delta Avengers group has often used the Twitter account as its main form of communication, using it to publicise claims of attacks and a platform to criticise Nigeria’s government.
“This account has been suspended,” said a statement on the account. “We do not comment on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons,” said a spokesman for the social media site when asked about the reasons for the suspension.
The spokesman however pointed out to the company’s policies, saying they include a “specific rule pertaining to violent threats” which states that “you may not make threats of violence or promote violence, including threatening or promoting terrorism”.
In February, Twitter said it had shut down more than 125,000 terrorism-related accounts since the middle of 2015, most of which were linked to the Islamic State group.
