US Urges Social Media Platforms to Block Iranian Officials

TEHRAN (defapress) – The US State Department called on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to suspend the accounts of Iranian officials after an internet blackout in the country following foreign-backed riots in some cities over fuel price hikes.

News ID: 79356

Date: 24 November 2019 - 16:48

"One of the things that we are calling on are social media companies like Facebook and Instagram and Twitter to shut down the accounts of Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Seyed Ali) Khamenei, the Foreign Minister (Mohammad Javad) Zarif and President (Hassan) Rouhani until they restore the Internet to their own people," Brian Hook, special US representative for Iran, said in an interview with Bloomberg on Saturday.

Tehran says it had restricted access to the Internet as a group of saboteurs were using online services like navigation and maps to coordinate their activities in large cities across the country.

The government nevertheless has begun reestablishing Internet coverage after around 100 of the ringleaders of the riots had been apprehended.

Last Friday, the government raised Iran’s extremely cheap gasoline prices in order to moderate the national consumption rate, which stands at 110 million liters per day, 40 million liters above the maximum domestic requirement.

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