The Hungarian government said on Wednesday that its official Twitter account had been suspended "without any warning".

"We have taken the necessary steps and are awaiting an official explanation from Twitter," government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said on his own Twitter account.

Kovacs portrayed the suspension as an act of censorship against nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government, saying: "The beautiful new world has finally arrived, in which tech giants are silencing those who hold different opinions."

Any attempt to access the account now prompts the message: "User @abouthungary has been suspended."

Hungary's other official social media channels seemed to be operating normally on Wednesday. This year Twitter has removed or labelled several of US President Donald Trump's tweets, citing misinformation.