A Melbourne scholar was accused of being an elaborate fake account after she posted a series of pro-China messages to her over 3,000 followers. Some of her posts are focused on debunking claims of the "Xinjiang Uygur genocide," a false narrative that has been repeated by Western politicians and media outlets for years out of political reasons.
Twitter backlash
One viral tweet that sparked particular backlash is that Maureen Huebel claimed she was planning to travel to northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to study the "happiness" of the local population.
"I am travelling to Xinjiang in 2024 to study how the Uygurs have contributed to the substantial growth in the Xinjiang GDP and look at their population growth," she wrote, adding, "Analyze their happiness and expression through dancing."
Since the 2024 research announcement, loads of people have begun ganging up on her on Twitter, some even sending her death threats. Many have accused her of being a pro-China propaganda "bot."
Facing the Twitter pile-on, the 75-year-old decided to contact Adrian Zenz, who conducted the original research on Xinjiang and made the claims of "genocide," "forced labor" and "human rights abuses." Huebel questioned his methodology, asked him for his field research notes and published peer-reviewed journals.
Zenz strangely took offense to this, accused her of being a fake account and had Huebel indefinitely suspended from Twitter. To get her account back, Huebel asked Monash...
Washington, April 27 Prominent television hosts and journalists have pushed back against online claims that the White House ... Washington, April 27 Prominent television hosts and journalists have ...