Protests in Iran: Does Meta delete content critical of the regime?

The Internet in Iran currently only works to a very limited extent, if at all. Communication apps are not available. The providers are accused of deleting content critical of the regime. The US group Meta is particularly in focus.

Street fights between protesters and security forces. Burning Cars. Women light their headscarves, cheer and dance. The social networks are full of these mobile phone videos. Exactly where and when they originated can hardly be verified. But there would probably be many more if the Internet were to work in the country.

In Iran itself, only a few people have the opportunity to receive or distribute the clips. This is shown by analyzes on sites such as Netblocks.org. The London-based organization monitors data flows in real time worldwide. The reports for Iran very often contain the word “down” or “reach work: 0%” – also for the two most important communication apps in Iran, WhatsApp and Instagram, which belong to the Californian meta group.

Journalists report deleted posts

Instagram is the last uncensored social media site in the country, writes the human rights organization “article 19”. But whether that’s true is controversial – even outside of Iran. “Yes, Instagram deleted one of my posts with 3.3 million views,” Saman Arbabi wrote on Twitter.

The journalist and television producer was born in Tehran and lives in the USA. However, many more of his posts on the protests are available. The British television station Manoto TV also reports that Meta’s own posts about the protests have been deleted. There are also similar tweets from German users.

Meta relies on community guidelines

But the criticism continues. Meta is deleting the videos and is working with the Iranian government to do so. Meta responded with a written statement to an interview request ARD: “We do not restrict access to our apps in Iran, nor do we censor the voices of others at the behest of the Iranian government. We remain focused on enabling as many people as possible to use our services to share what they important is.”

The group does not write how Meta wants to do this specifically. However, he does not deny that posts are deleted: “We only remove content that violates our rules.” This refers to the community guidelines that apply to all content. They ban posts that incite violence or contain hate speech, for example.

Does Meta hire external companies?

Criticism of deleted videos of protests in Iran is not new. “Fuck all the tech companies deleting videos of Iranians being killed in the streets. Why don’t you guys delete Islamic Republic officials?” Masih Alinejad tweeted in May.

She is also from Iran and lives in the USA. She is a journalist and women’s rights activist. Almost eight million users follow her on Instagram. And there are indications that her account should be deleted – but not by Meta, but by employees of an external company that takes care of the moderation of Iranian user comments on behalf of Meta.

No evidence of account deletion

According to a report by the BBC, the Iranian secret service is said to have contacted employees. “According to the motto – if you delete certain accounts, you get 5,000 to 10,000 euros per account,” says freelance journalist Bamdad Esmaili from Cologne, who helped research the report. “I asked who, for example – and then he said, for example Masih Alinejad.”

However, there is no evidence. The statements come from an employee and an ex-employee, both of whom wanted to be quoted anonymously. Meta also rejects the allegations.

Musk wants an internet connection from space

Elon Musk, the head of SpaceX, also made a statement or tweet on the subject of the Internet in Iran. He wants to try to connect Iran to the Internet from space via satellite.

The service is called Starlink. However, in order to bring the necessary receiving antennas into the country, an exception would be needed. He doesn’t tweet anything about how far the plan is.