A Myanmar army general accused of masterminding genocide against the country’s Muslim Rohingya people has had his Twitter account suspended, following complaints about him using the social media platform for hate speech.

Min Aung Hlaing, the south-east Asian country’s top ranking general, had his @sgminaunghlaing account taken offline this week.

The move against the commander-in-chief, who claims his army did not use “excessive force” when about 700,000 Rohingyas fled Myanmar in 2017, was hailed by prominent Rohingya activist Tun Kinh as a “massive victory” for members of the ethnic group.

Min Aung Hlaing, who was also accused of using social media to spread anti-Rohingya propaganda, had his Facebook account deleted in August 2018, after the United Nations called for Myanmar military leaders to be prosecuted for genocide.

He used social media to refer to Rohingya people as “Bengali”, implying that they were immigrants rather than Myanmar citizens. On Facebook he denied army atrocities and claimed that the military was targeting militants rather than committing genocide.

The suspension came after Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, met Twitter executives in Silicone Valley last week and questioned them over why Min Aung Hlaing’s account remained live. The general’s Twitter account had not been used in about a year, but the suspension was still hailed as a significant gesture.

Tun Kinh said: “The fact that Twitter has joined Facebook in deleting his account – which he used to sow hatred and spew out his defensive propaganda – is a massive victory for the Rohingya people.”

He added that “Min Aung Hliang was the mastermind of the Rohingya genocide … it is crucial that Twitter now follows through in deleting other accounts used by the regime for the same purpose.”