The Twitter account of Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was suspended Tuesday, one day after she vowed to continue her late husband’s anti-corruption campaign in Russia.
“A message on Navalnaya’s profile on Twitter stated, ‘Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules,’” it was reported.
Approximately 30 minutes later, independent Russian news outlet Mediazona reported that the account was reinstated. Twitter acknowledged that the suspension was a result of a mistake in the platform’s defense mechanism against manipulation and spam.
“We unsuspended the account as soon as we became aware of the error, and will be updating the defense,” the statement from Twitter read.
The suspension drew significant criticism during its brief duration. In a post on Tuesday morning, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, founded by Navalny, called on Twitter owner Elon Musk to clarify the suspension.
“Hey @elonmusk! Please explain exactly which rules were violated by @yulia_navalnaya,” the post urged.