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CARLIFORNIA – Meta has removed Instagram and Facebook accounts run on behalf of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, following criticism over his support for Hamas after the group’s October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the months-long war still raging in the Gaza Strip, the company confirmed yesterday.

Meta, based in Menlo Park, California, offered no specifics about its reasoning. However, it said it removed the accounts ‘for repeatedly violating our dangerous organisations and individuals policy’.

“We do not allow organisations or individuals who proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence to have a presence on our platforms,” the policy states.

That includes those designated as terrorists by the US government. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Accounts associated with the supreme leader had been praising the Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1 200 people and saw about 250 others taken hostage. Immediately after the attack, Khamenei backed Hamas in a speech, saying: “We kiss the hands of those who planned the attack on the Zionist regime.” Khamenei still maintains an account on X, formerly Twitter.

Pressure has been growing on online platforms to remove Khamenei in recent years, particularly after the mass protests that followed the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, after her arrest allegedly over how she wore the mandated headscarf in Iran.

Khamenei’s use of Facebook has drawn criticism after he joined in 2012. The social network has been banned in Iran since its 2009 disputed presidential election.