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Twitter has caused a storm among South African users by removing #thingsdarkiessay from its Trending Topics list.

The trend was removed after complaints from American Twitter users, who were offended by the use of the term "darkie".

www.hashtagsexplained.com explained that #thingsdarkiessay was started in South Africa, "as a joke about stereotypes".

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The website said "'darkie' does not have the same negative connotations as it does in the United States".

Here is an example of one of the tweets by a South African:
"#thingsdarkiessay There's lightning, cover the mirrors! (Or is things grannies say?) (via @khayadlanga)"

American reaction was swift, with tweets like this one:
"Im gonna Slap The Religion Outta The Person who made this #thingsdarkiessay".

After the removal of the hashtag, users started this topic #SouthAfricansArePissed because some of them felt the censorship was an overreaction or as one described it: "American cultural imperialism".

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