Activists Say Instagram Blocking Content On Iran Protests
Activists say Instagram is blocking their accounts for sharing news about antigovernment protests in Iran, calling for explanation from its owner company Meta.
Activists say Instagram is blocking their accounts for sharing news about antigovernment protests in Iran, calling for explanation from its owner company Meta.
British-Iranian actress and human rights activist Nazanin Boniadi shared some of the blocked pages on her twitter account on Sunday, asking Meta why Instagram is suspending their accounts for no reason.
“Fix your algorithms. This is outrageous,” Boniadi said.
Saman Arbabi, one of the activists, said that Instagram suspended his account “for doing absolutely nothing wrong other than posting videos” of Iranian protests from across the world.
A newspaper in Tehran, Arman Melli said on Sunday that while the Iranian government has blocked Instagram and WhatApp for the people since the current protests began in mid-September, senior clerics and officials still have access to these platforms.
British comedian and activist Chelsea Hart said in a video that Instagram demonetized all her videos for posting about the protests in Iran, adding that the media platform also withheld her creator fund from before her posts were demonetized. “Every single video that has gotten me in trouble has been specifically to do with Iran,” she said, noting that the videos were flagged without any guidelines about the videos.
“They’re suppressing my stuff big time and it is almost expressly to do with Iran. These platforms are absolutely trying to dissuade people from doing activism on Iran,” she said.
Boniadi, who recently held a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss how to support the protesters and striking workers in Iran, added that “Chelsea isn’t the only one,” calling on the American company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to provide explanations.
In June, three human rights groups also called on Meta to review its Persian-language content review procedures.
In July, Iranian women's rights activist Masih Alinejad wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post recounting issues she faced with Instagram including loss of access to Instagram’s ‘live’ feature. She said this happened right after she posted a video of a confrontation on a city bus in Tehran between a hijab-wearing woman and another who refused to cover her head.
Asked by the Washington Post to comment, an Instagram representative had said the restriction “was placed on Masih’s account incorrectly because of a technical issue,” explaining that the platform automatically issues restrictions “when our systems detect spammy behavior.” The representative added: “It is against our policies to take action on accounts at the request of the Iranian government.”
But the issue could be more convoluted than Instagram 'taking orders' from the Iranian government. BBC reported in May that Iranian moderators working for a Meta subcontractor in Germany, Telus International, might be connected with the Iranian government and taking instructions from Tehran.
A top Iranian official said Sunday that blocking these apps was a decision taken by top leaders.
“The issue of lifting filters [on WhatsApp and Instagram] is the mandate of the National Security Council. One of the preconditions is that these two platforms should appoint representatives inside Iran and abide by the country’s laws and regulations. The NSC’s initial understanding is that these two platforms disrupt the security of the people,” Brigadier-General Gholamreza Jalali told reporters on the sidelines of the National Urban Defense Seminar Sunday.
“During the recent events these two platforms had some kind of coordination with the enemy abroad, the MEK, and the Zionist regime and this has been proven. Therefore the NSC decided to stop their activities as long as it thinks there is no assurance about the security of the country,” he added.
Anonymous activists calling themselves Tehran Youth have been calling for twice weekly demonstrations on Saturdays and Wednesdays, with mostly young people responding to the call.
The first gatherings were reported in Tehran’s universities, hotbed of youth protests in the country, in a movement largely led by the Z Generation.
But this Saturday there is a parallel large rally of Iranian in Europe taking place in Berlin, with people from distant part of the continent traveling to the German capital in what is expected to be a 50,000-strong protest.
Top Iranian political, military and religious figures have toughened their rhetoric against protesters in the past two days, with Friday Prayer Imams asking the government to show no mercy to “rioters”. This shows the shock felt by an authoritarian elite entrenched in power for 43 years that is adept in using full violence against wave of protests since 2009. A whole elite of a few thousand families representing clerics, military and political officials control 80 percent of Iran’s economy, imposing religious restrictions and presiding over deepening poverty for tens of millions of others.
After weeks of street protests, industrial and teachers’ strikes have begun, which herald more bad news for a governing system that has left no recourse for the populace to express its dissatisfaction.
For more than 10 days, strikes have been spreading in the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors in southern Iran, with signs that natural gas production providing 70 percent of domestic energy needs might have declined. Teachers have also called for a two-day strike on Saturday and Sunday.
Our live coverage below presented news and videos as we received them from Iran and also Berlin.
Our coverage last 8 hours and ended at 00:40 local time on Sunday.
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Someone shouting from an apartment complex at security forces below, "Bastards, this is the end."
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Protests in Tehran's working class district, Nazi Abad. The voice says "Tehran is ours. Who said it belongs to them."
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Security forces firing at protesters in the southwestern city of Dezful.
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A police kiosk set on fire in Orumiyeh (Urmia), northwest Iran with a Molotov cocktail.
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Special unit police forces dispersing people in Esfahan, not allowing any person to stop in the street.
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Residents of Tehran's Ekbatan district protest, chanting, "Women, Life, Liberty".
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Women protesting in Tehran by removing their headscarves and waving it to security forces.
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Protest early evening in Mazanderan province, northern Iran where people burned a police banner and set fire to a morality police kiosk.
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A teachers' union in Iran has published the names of 30 children killed during protests that started on September 16. Eleven children shot by security forces were from Zahedan, southeastern Iran, seven from Kurdish regions and three were Afghans living in Iran. The United Nations and human rights organizations had urged Tehran to stop assaults on children. Security forces have been raiding schools and beating and arresting students who showed any sign of dissent.
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Parts of Tehran turned into scenes resembling a war zone Saturday night. Tear gas blanket a street as security forces tried to disperse protesters.
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Another video from Dezful in southwestern Iran Saturday evening shows protesters marching and then gunshots ring out.
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Late evening and night time is the popular time for protests in Iran because darkness helps the protesters. This video is from Tehran Pars district east of the capital.
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Protest in the central city of Arak, where gunshots are heard and people start running.
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Protests in Mashhad earlier on Saturday. Due to internet disruption by the government, people are unable to easily access social media.
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Text reports say protests were underway late afternoon in the western city of Saqqez, with access to Internet blocked by the government and people not able to upload videos. Saqqez is the birthplace of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman who was killed at the hands of the 'hijab police in mid-September. Her death triggered the current protests.
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Protesters set up barricades on the roads in Mehabad, a mainly Kurdish town.
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Gunshots are heard in Dezful, in the oil-rich Khuzestan province.
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A new wave of protests as darkness fell in Iran on Saturday. The video below shows Shariati street in Tehran.
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First video of a protest after evening darkness in Tehran on Saturday.
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A woman climbed a pole at a busy intersection in Tehran removing her headscarf and chanting against Iran's ruler Ali Khamenei.
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A noisy protest in Tehran's downtown Lalehzar Avenue, with demonstrators chanting "death to the dictator".
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Retail businesses on strike near Karaj, 20 miles west of Tehran on Saturday.
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The full picture of a huge crowd of Iranians gathered for a rally in Berlin, Germany on Saturday afternoon can be seen in this video at around 15:00 local time.
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Reports from Tabriz, capital of West Azerbaijan province say fierce protests are taking place on Saturday afternoon, with "a war like" atmosphere. No details available yet about clashes with security forces, at 17:30 local time.
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In one part of Tehran protesters chant "Death to the dictator" early Saturday afternoon.
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The video below shows police attacking a protester in Mashhad, as plainclothesmen join the assault, while other protesters try to help their comrade.
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According to preliminary reports, tens of thousands of Iranians have gathered in Berlin, Germany, Saturday afternoon for a large protest demanding an end to authoritarian rule and respect for human rights in Iran. The photo below is from Reuters.
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This interesting video from the western city of Sanandaj shows the heavy presence of special forces, some carrying AK-47 assault rifles instead of the usual shotguns carried and used during protests. The video was taken Saturday morning apparently before any protests. Sanandak, a largely Kurdish city has been a hotbed of protests for more than a month.
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Student protest in Razi University of Kermanshah, western Iran.
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Students at Tehran's Technical University march and chant on campus Saturday morning.
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Students at the faculty of Art and Architecture in the University of Yazd chanting "Freedom, freedom" Saturday morning.
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Student protests Saturday morning in the University of Tehran.
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Student gathered on the campus of the University of Tabriz to protest. Just two ago there were large demonstrations in the northwestern city.
Another large protest by students of Tabriz Medical University Saturday morning.
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Protests around midday in Mashhad a religious center and second largest city in Iran.
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The massive Freedom Rally for Iran started in Berlin, Germany, in what is being described as the biggest gathering of Iranian protesters across the world. People from all corners of the continent traveled to Berlin with buses, trains and planes.
The police said on Wednesday they had registered 80,000 participants for the demonstration near the main government buildings in the center of the city, and a German TV channel called the numbers “surprising”.
Police say the demonstration was organized by “Woman Life Freedom Kollektiv”, with the stated goal of standing up against oppression and discrimination in Iran.
The famous Iranian-Canadian activist Hamed Esmaeilion, who lost his daughter and wife in the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane in January 2020 by the Revolutionary Guard, has also supported the demonstration.
Protesters carried the pictures of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman who was killed in the custody of Iran’s ‘morality police’, as well as those who lost their lives in the nationwide protest movement since mid-September. They also unfurled a large Iranian pre-revolution national flag, which has become a symbol of rejecting the Islamic Republic.
They were also Ukrainian flags in the demonstration, apparently as a sign of mutual support. Reports said some Ukrainians also took part.
The families of the victims of the Ukrainian plane held each other’s hands as a sign of unity calling for justice.
Protesters emphasized unity among Iranians both inside the country and in the diaspora while chanting the slogan “Today Only Unity, Unity!”
Demonstrators also chanted slogans like “Clerics Must Get Lost!”, “Death to Khamenei”, and “Death to the Islamic Republic!”.
Up to 100,000 postal cards are expected to be signed by those attending the Berlin rally and sent to the office of European Union foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, urging the EU to reconsider its ties with Islamic Republic.
Addressing the rally Berlin, Esmaeilion said, “We have a dream which will be realized with the fall of Khamenei's empire of fear and crime. In this dream, wind will blow through women's hair, and no one will attack schoolgirls.”
He also urged Western governments “to stop negotiating with a criminal government called the Islamic Republic and expel their ambassadors.”
“Confiscate the wealth they looted from the people of Iran,” he asked the West.
Addressing the Western countries, the Iranian activist went on to say, “No one is asking you to go to war or sanction people. Stop negotiations with the regime and sanction and expel those lobbying for the Islamic Republic.”
Calling on the West to recognize the revolution staged by Iranian youth, he said the Islamic Republic is not the same as Iran.
“Respect the most progressive revolution in the Middle East and stand on the right side of history,” noted Esmaeilion.
Rioters take part in the protests because they are well-fed," added Assembly of Experts member Mohsen Haydari, another Iranian cleric who enjoys a luxurious life without having worked for even one day in his lifetime, while the middle class has been wiped out due to 40-percent inflation in the past three years.
These are just two examples of what Iranian pro-government clerics who are paid by the Islamic Republic regime to echo Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's arrogant rhetoric against his own people, many of whom no longer want to submit to his dictatorship
But they are not alone in bragging against the protests. Some military figures also spoke about the uprising on Friday. Brigadier General Hamid Abazari, an adviser to the commander of the IRGC opined that young women and men taking part in the protests have been deceived by "the enemy," which means the United States in the Islamic Republic's political jargon.
All this, and more, have been said while, an Iranian sociologist, Mohammad Reza Javadi Yeganeh, has warned that the window of opportunity for the regime to open a dialogue with the country's angry youths is not going to remain open for long as the regime increasingly isolates itself within its hard core.
In the meantime, others such as the Tehran Province Governor Mohsen Mansouri have tried to help the regime out of its biggest crisis in 43 years by offering to allocate certain places in big cities where people can protest. Mansouri has made the remark in the disguise of a lawful and democratic proposal. However, Iranian protesters believe this is a trick to make sure that the security forces are aware of all the demonstrations beforehand and can practice various ways to crackdown based on the specifications of every location.
The current protests take place at different locations during daytime and night and gatherings are fairly mobile in a bid to evade dangerous confrontation with security forces who are willing with no reservation to shoot to kill.
In his interview with ISNA, Mansouri said that his office has considered the requests for holding protest gatherings and has responded to those requests. However, it is clear that no such permit has been issued so far even for pro-government "reformist" parties that have recently complained that the Governor's Office and the Interior Ministry have ignored all of their requests.
At the same time, some political figures appear to be fishing in troubled waters by trying to garner support for the next parliamentary election. Mohammad Hassan Asafari, a lawmaker from Arak in the Central Province, told the press that taking part in the protests is a lawful activity, adding that protesters come to his office and talk with him about the situation. He is probably referring to another country as most lawmakers, including Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf are known for their opposition to the protests and their comments about cracking down on dissent.
Asafari, however, has acknowledged that people have grievances about the government's economic and foreign policies. This comes while Sociologist Yeganeh, who agrees with the lawmaker on the causes of the protests, wrote in a series of tweets on Thursday that the regime should "recognize the protests and stop behavior that irritates the people," or a gloomy future is s possibility.