Why have @Twitter suspended @equalmarriageni ?

Yesterday the Equal Marriage Northern Ireland campaign launched a Twitter account @equalmarriageni I know as I was one of the first 10 to follow it.

This morning if you look for that account you will find that it is suspended.

Why?

It has not been spamming people which is one of the reasons that accounts can be blocked.

Nor have any of the messages been offensive.

Indeed the account was only set up within the last 24 hours. Most of the messages were welcoming its followers or telling people how to get involved.

The only reason that many of us can assume this has taken place is that somebody or some people within Northern Ireland have complained to Twitter that even having such a campaign is offensive. It is a pity that such people do not feel that they can allow a debate on this issue, but on the other hand it probably is a victory of sorts. If the opponents of Equal Marriage in Northern Ireland have to resort to censoring the debate then they must know that they are fighting a losing battle.

The Campaign for Equal Marriage here in Northern Ireland will not be silenced by a few people trying to prevent Twitter from broadcasting our views. There are enough of us as established Twitter users who will be making our points. We will also be encouraging all of you to get on board and support us. In Northern Ireland we face the toughest task of anywhere in the UK to get equality of marriage and if this is one of the early reactions to  our campaign here becoming more visible then it will only spur us on to get the message out there front and centre however we can.

We are not lying down. We will not be silenced no matter who tries to stop us being heard.