Meta removed Instagram accounts belonging to Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday for violating its policy on dangerous organizations and individuals.
Meta disabled both Khamenei's Persian and U.S. accounts. The move comes after months of pressure from pro-Israel groups over Khamenei's support of the terrorist group Hamas and its Oct. 7 invasion of Israel.
"We have removed these accounts for repeatedly violating our Dangerous Organizations & Individuals policy," a spokesperson for Meta, which owns Instagram, said in statements to Middle East Eye and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Thursday.
Iran has denied involvement in Hamas' attack on Israel, a claim that has been widely dismissed by governments, including the U.S., which cite Iran's financial support of terrorist groups in the Middle East. In fact, Republican lawmakers and military strategists have chided President Joe Biden for not striking Iran, knowing full well that its funding the proxy war on U.S. bases and outposts, including the one that recently killed three American soldiers.
Regardless, Khamenei praised Hamas' attack on Israel three days after it took place.
"We kiss the hands of those who planned the attack on the Zionist regime. This destructive earthquake has destroyed some critical structures (in Israel) which will not be repaired easily," he said in a speech. "The Zionist regime's own actions are to blame for this disaster."
Meta created a special operations center with experts fluent in Hebrew and Arabic a week after the attack on Israel in an effort to ramp up misinformation enforcement and police violent posts once Israel began its campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
Khamenei had more than 5.1 million followers on his Persian-language account and more than 204,000 followers on his English-language account, according to Middle East Eye.
The social media site X, then called Twitter, banned Khamenei from its platform two years ago for threatening former President Donald Trump.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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