Twitter: Iran Leader’s anti-Israel tweets don’t violate our rules
At an Israeli regime parliament session, a Twitter official has defended a decision by the social media giant not to block or restrict tweets by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s office against Israeli occupation of Palestine, saying those posts do not violate the company’s rules.
Ylwa Pettersson, Twitter’s head policy for the Nordic countries and Israel, made the comments while speaking to the Israeli parliament (Knesset)’s Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs via video-conference on Wednesday.
“We have an approach toward leaders that says that direct interactions with fellow public figures, comments on political issues of the day, or foreign policy saber-rattling on military-economic issues are generally not in violation of our rules,” she said.
She was responding to a question by pro-Israel activist Arsen Ostrovsky, who had asked why Twitter attached a special label to a recent tweet by US President Donald Trump noting that it violated the company’s rules, while Ayatollah Khamenei’s tweets against the Zionist entity are left untouched.
Ayatollah Khamenei’s office has, on many occasions, posted tweets, censuring the Israeli regime for its crimes, including appropriating Palestinian lands, and disregard for international law.
The Leader has also called for the elimination of Israel from the occupied Palestinian land; however, the Zionists as well as pro-Israeli Western officials and media outlets have been using propaganda to suggest that Iran wants the elimination of Jews.
Ayatollah Khamenei has clearly differentiated between the “elimination” of the Zionist entity and what has been promoted by the West as Iran’s ill-intention towards Jews.
“Eliminating the Zionist regime doesn’t mean eliminating Jews. We aren’t against Jews. It means abolishing the imposed regime & Muslim, Christian & Jewish Palestinians choose their own govt & expel thugs like Netanyahu. This is “Eliminating Israel” & it will happen,” the Leader’s office said in a tweet in May 2020.
Last month, Twitter for the first time flagged two of Trump's tweets for misinformation about the riots that broke out in the US following the killing of unarmed black man George Floyd.
In a tweet on May 29, Trump called protesters in Minneapolis “thugs” and vowed that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” after protesters outraged by the police killing of the handcuffed black man torched a police station.
Pettersson said, “If a world leader violates our rules but there is a clear interest in keeping that up on the service, we may place it behind a notice that provides some more context about the violation and allows people to click through if they wish to see that type of content.”
“That’s what happened for the Trump tweet: that tweet was violating our policies regarding the glorification of violence based on the historical context of the last line of that tweet and the risk that it could possibly inspire harm and similar actions.”