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Twitter suspends fake Dalai Lama account

AFP

The Dalai Lama waves from the balcony of the Campidoglio, Rome’s city hall, after he was made honorary citizen of the Italian capital on 9 February 2009. Micro-blogging service Twitter suspended an account said to have been set up the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama saying it had been created by an impersonator.AFP/Christophe Simon/Italy

Micro-blogging service Twitter on Monday suspended an account said to have been set up by the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama saying it had been created by an impersonator.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, in an email to AFP, said “the account was suspended because it violated our Terms of Use regarding impersonation.”

The account — twitter.com/ohhdl was created on Saturday and attracted nearly 20,000 followers in just two days, a phenomenal rate of growth.

“Welcome to the official Twitter page of His Holiness the Dalai Lama — administered by The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” the first message read.

The background for the page included the official picture of the Dalai Lama from his website and a quotation from the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Twitter claims more than six million users of its service, which allows users to send short messages known as “tweets” of 140 characters or less.

Copyright © 2009 AFP

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