Instagram Says Is Removing Posts “Supporting Soleimani” to Comply With US Iran Sanctions

US sanctions now determine what somebody may say on social media

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.

Source: FOX

11 Comments
  1. John Lockett says

    What about the Second Amendment. What i more important for Americans, the Constitution or Sanctions.

  2. Jozo Magoc says

    The Western goyim walks like cattles in the streets, stirring at their phones in hands and hitting each other or even running under the cars! Just goyim= cattles!

  3. Garry Compton says

    Removed “According to Law “. The anti liberty/free speech laws are pushed through the Gov. at an amazing speed, while laws helping the people for medicine, food, help of any kind, must be studied, researched and — forgotten. Spacibo Ckpt. Asia.

  4. Mary E says

    It is past time to dump InstaGram and FaceBook!!! Who really needs them? They are only there to make public what people are doing in their private lives…certainly, there are other methods…like texting or emailing photos etc of your family and friends to others –

  5. Mikhail Garchenko says

    Stop feeding all those cockroaches and leave once and for all these UN-“social networks”, please..! Try to live LIKE REAL HUMAN BEINGS, talking, listening, hugging, looking at the eyes of your parents, friends, neighboors, and not watching all the f***ing day your smartphones like mentally retarded idiots..!

  6. Rowdy-Yates says

    I do not feel Iran is the victim anymore. I believe Tehran worked with DC to get rid of Soleimani. Iran’s threats suddenly died soon after successfully hitting the base. If Iran was really the victim of such an outrageous act then she would have taken it further. There is no defense against her missiles. She had the capacity to block the straits of Hormuz and use that as pressure to join with Iraq and push America out of that nation. It is amazing how little Tehran did after the assassination of Soleimani.

    1. Mary E says

      I believe that we are in a wait and see situation with Tehran…what possible reason would they have to eliminate their top general? They certainly didn’t need the US to do it for them!..and why on earth would they??

      1. Rowdy-Yates says

        My speculation is that Soleimani had the power to overthrow the Mullahs and change Iran into a military dictatorship which would have been more powerful than it is. he would have emerged the “Saddam Hussein” of Iran, a nightmare for Iraq.
        As military power Iran would have become a nuclear power sooner than later and had no problems aligning with Russia and Chin in a military alliance
        Such a power would threaten America, Israel, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. the Mullahs cannot take responsibility since he is so popular among the common people across the Arab Muslim world.

        1. Nick Rhynes says

          WHy involve the US tho,

          And I too am surprised at the lack of retaliation but piecing together wat I hear from various Iranian officials, I’m expecting more to come. There’s no way they can let such an insult to stand without marger larger response.

          1. Rowdy-Yates says

            Because the US is the only power that can take the criticism without falling. Muslims would expect DC to kill him but unlike Bagdad, Tehran, or Riyadh the consequences will not be violent civil unrest for such a “betrayal”
            Israel simply cannot take that much heat. DC can.

  7. CHUCKMAN says

    This shouldn’t surprise anyone.

    Facebook has long serve as an unofficial associate to American security agencies like CIA and FBI.

    Its information helps fill in any blanks there may be the agencies’ profiles.

    Indeed, all the big American hi-tech companies on-line – including Google and Amazon and Wikipedia – serve the security establishment.

    American society becomes more secretive and nastier with each passing year. It’s all part of being an empire instead of a country.

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