The official profiles of the laweader supremo iranian Ali Khamenei they are no longer reachable on Facebook and Instagram. Meta, the tech giant that controls both social networks, has deleted them.
“We removed these accounts because they repeatedly violated Meta regarding dangerous organizations and individuals,” a company spokesperson said.
At TWO (Dangerous Organizations & Individuals policy) prohibits organizations or individuals that advocate violence or are involved in acts of violence from having a profile on Meta’s social networks.
This includes anyone who glorifies, aids, or defends terrorist groups that the United States has blacklisted. Among these there are Hamas militants.
Layatollah Ali Khamenei, in power for 35 years and with a following of 5 million followers on Instagrammost likely it was overshadowed by Meta precisely because it supports Hamas in the war against Israel.
A year ago Meta decided not to delete from Facebook the posts that called for the “death of Khamenei” written during the protests that affected the Iranian leader at the end of 2022.
Meta’s Oversight Board, a control committee independent of the company, also supported the social network’s decision at the time, arguing that the slogan “Death to Khamenei” is often used to mean “down with Khamenei”.
Instagram and Facebook are banned in Iran. But Iranians use secure, encrypted connections, called VPNto avoid restrictions and access prohibited websites or apps, including Facebook but also X and YouTube.
Subjects