Censorship at full throttle: X suspends Sayyed Khamenei Hebrew account
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The account was suspended early Monday, only one day after it was created.
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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sits in a meeting in Tehran, Iran, October 27, 2024. (AP)
Elon Musk's social media platform, X, has suspended a new account of Iran's leader, Sayyed Ali Khamenei for posting Hebrew comments.
The X account opened on Sunday with a message in Hebrew reading: “In the name of God, the most merciful."
The account was stopped early Monday, with a brief statement attached stating: "X suspends accounts which violate the X Rules."
It was not immediately obvious what the infringement was.
The account of the Office of the Leader of the Revolution and the Islamic Republic, Sayyed Ali Khamenei, in Hebrew on X posted on Sunday a message addressed to "Israel".
"We will make them understand the power, capabilities, innovation, and will of the Iranian people," the post, clearly directed at the Israeli occupation regime, read.
המשטר הציוני עשה טעות, וטעה בחישוב שלו לגבי איראן. נגרום לו להבין איזה כוח, יכולת, יוזמה ורצון יש לאומה האיראנית.
— Khamenei.ir Hebrew (@Khamenei_Heb) October 27, 2024
The message comes a day after Israeli warplanes launched an aggression on Iran. The Israeli military command confirmed that its Air Force conducted strikes on "military targets" in the country, sparking widespread regional and international condemnations.
The Iranian Air Defense reported that in the early hours of October 26, "Israel" targeted military sites in the provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan, and Ilam, with air defenses intercepting the attacks.
Back in February, after months of pressure from pro-Israeli groups, Meta suspended the accounts of Iranian leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei from Instagram and Facebook.
Meta also suspended Sayyed Khamenei's accounts on its Facebook platform, and accounts affiliated with the Iranian leader have consistently posted support for Gaza and the Palestinian people while asserting that the end of the Israeli occupation is near.
In 2022, the X platform (formerly Twitter), owned by Elon Musk, removed one of the accounts of Sayyed Khamenei.
In September, Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Elon Musk to practice more censorship on the billionaire's social media platform X under the guise of "antisemitism" during a face-to-face meeting in California.
Last year, Meta announced that it now permits sharing posts calling for the death of Iran’s leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei.
The decision overturns an earlier policy to ban such posts, with Meta claiming that the phrase "Death to Khamenei" does not entail a literal threat against his life.
Users can now liberally use the phrase in English or Farsi, without violating the company's policies and risking penalties.
