On Wednesday, the Twitter account of United States’ Ambassador to Jamaica, Donald Tapia spewed insults at several users on the platform after they criticized his comments regarding the island’s foreign affairs.
Earlier this week, Tapia raised a red flag to the Jamaican Government, saying that any decision to engage China or a Chinese firm regarding the installation of 5G technology poses several risks to the island.
After his official Twitter account posted links to interviews he gave local media about the installation of 5G technology, several Twitter users, mostly from Jamaica, lashed out at the Ambassador, saying he was interfering with Jamaica’s foreign affairs. The account then responded to the backlash with a series of insults.
One user in the replies asked, “Anyone afraid to tell Tapia to mind his own business? Or are they afraid to lose their visas?” to which the account replied, “you must have been turned down, sounds like your angry”.
Several other insults were made by the account to other users.
Many Jamaicans assumed that the account of the Ambassador had been hacked. The verified account has not interacted with any other social media account, except the accounts of U.S. diplomats and government officials, since Tapia assumed the office in September 2019.
According to Reuters, the U.S. embassy in Kingston and the State Department has not responded to requests for comment. The office of Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness also declined to comment.
The ambassador has since deleted his tweets.
Reuters also reports that state Department regulations prohibit the posting of “offensive or harassing language” and “abusive or objectionable language” on social media.
