Why is Iran's Ayatollah allowed to KEEP Twitter even though he's called for genocide in Israel? Site faces questions over why leaders including Saudi's bin Salman and Venezuela's Maduro still have accounts despite incendiary tweets
Twitter has removed a COVID-19 conspiracy theory posted by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling the vaccines imported from the U.S. or U.K 'completely untrustworthy.'
Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, still has access to the account and has since tweeted - to the ire of Twitter critics demanding he be suspended since the platform banned U.S. President Donald Trump from their services.
'It's not unlikely they would want to contaminate other nations,' the tweet said in reference to the two countries, CBS News reports. It also said the vaccines from France 'aren't trustworthy.'
It raises questions as to why certain leaders such as Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud all still have access to their accounts.
Khamenei in the past as even called for genocide in Israel through the 'elimination of Zionists', but is allowed to remain on the platform.
OJ Simpson, white nationalist Richard Spencer, and known anti-Semite Louis Farrahkan are also still allowed to freely tweet.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, still has access to the account and has since tweeted
A tweet on Khamenei's Farsi-language account is still up and expresses similar sentiments.
Khamenei on Friday announced a ban on importing vaccines from the United States and Britain.
The Red Crescent in Iran said it will not import the massive stash of the Pfizer vaccine that benefactors from America had planned to donate to the country.
Iran's leader has given the green light on imports of the vaccine from 'safe places abroad.
Twitter announced Friday evening that it was officially banning Trump from the platform after he incited a mob of supporters to descend on the Capitol
Twitter announced Friday evening that it was officially banning Trump from the platform after he incited a mob of supporters to descend on the Capitol and wreak havoc.
'After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,' Twitter said Friday.
Khamenei on Friday announced a ban on importing vaccines from the United States and Britain
'In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action.
'Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.
'However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules and cannot use Twitter to incite violence. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.'
The ban was met with calls from Iranian activists and Trump supporters to have Khamenei's account also removed.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio warned censoring Twitter could have dire consequences.
'Even those who oppose Trump should see the danger of having a small & unelected group with the power to silence & erase anyone. And their actions will only stoke new grievances that will end up fueling the very thing they claim to be trying to prevent,' the Republican tweeted on Saturday.
Sen. Rick Scott added that the social network allows dictators of the wold to tweet -so the president should not be offered less tham them.
'Twitter has now permanently banned President Trump's account. Meanwhile they allow the Chinese to openly brag about genocide and the Ayatollah to talk about wiping Israel off the face of the map. How can they defend this? Their attacks on conservatives are shameful,' Scott tweeted.
'Maduro commits genocide, but is allowed to use Twitter to spread propaganda with no repercussion. Shameful.'
Lindsey Graham added that he thought the ban was 'a mistake' and called for Congress to repeal Section 230.
'Ayatollah can tweet, but Trump can't. Says a lot about the people who run Twitter,' he wrote.
'Now it's time for @Twitter to remove the man who has banned 83 million Iranians from Twitter, bans US & European coronavirus vaccines and ordered the crackdown that killed 1,500 protesters,' declared Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad. 'Remove @Khamenei_fa now.'
'Now it's time for @Twitter to remove the man who has banned 83 million Iranians from Twitter, bans US & European coronavirus vaccines and ordered the crackdown that killed 1,500 protesters,' declared Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad. 'Remove @Khamenei_fa now'
'Today, @khamenei_ir posted misinformation about coronavirus vaccine and his tweet was swiftly removed after me and many activists flagged it. Alas, @khamenei_ir continues spreading the same anti-vaccine propaganda in his Persian account.
She continued: 'You've suspended the account of @realDonaldTrump, but you've not suspended the account of@khamenei_ir, who used the @Twitter platform to issue death threats. He's imprisoned various twitter activists while banning Iranians from freely accessing Twitter. Why?'
In December, Iran began the human test phase of its own vaccine and is expected to distribute the drug in the spring.
The country has the worst virus outbreak in the Middle East, with roughly 1.2million people infected with the virus. Some 56,000 people have died.
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