Washington DC (CNN Business) Instagram and its parent company Facebook
are removing posts that voice support for slain Iranian commander Qassem
Soleimani to comply with US sanctions, a Facebook spokesperson said in a
statement to CNN Business Friday.
The Iranian government has called for nationwide legal action against
Instagram in protest, even creating a portal on a government website for
the app's users to submit examples of posts the company removed, Iranian
state media reported.
Instagram is one of the few western social media platforms that is not
blocked in Iran. Facebook and Twitter are blocked but some Iranians
access those sites using VPNs.
In a tweet, Iran's government spokesperson, Ali Rabiei, called
Instagram's actions "undemocratic."
Instagram shut down Soleimani's own account on the platform last April
after the US government designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC) a foreign terrorist organization. Soleimani was an IRGC commander.
"We operate under US sanctions laws, including those related to the US
government's designation of the IRGC and its leadership," a Facebook
spokesperson said in a statement.
Iranian soccer player Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who has a verified Instagram
account, posted a photo of Soleimani after his death. Jahanbakhsh said
Instagram had removed that post.
Details of the takedowns were reported earlier by Coda Story.
As part of its compliance with US law, the Facebook spokesperson said
the company removes accounts run by or on behalf of sanctioned people
and organizations.
It also removes posts that commend the actions of sanctioned parties and
individuals and seek to help further their actions, the spokesperson
said, adding that Facebook has an appeals process if users feel their
posts were removed in error.
CNN Business has reached out to Twitter and Google for comment to ask
how they handle content related to people sanctioned by the US government.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/10/tech/instagram-iran-soleimani-posts/index.html
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