Platforms dont know how to handle Iran sanctions

In the wake of heightened tensions between Iran and the United States, triggered by the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, social media companies are facing pressure to heavily monitor their platforms, but they seem unsure about where to draw the line.

Most prominently, Facebook-owned Instagram has been removing a slew of posts that mention Soleimani. As Coda Story noted last week, the company seems to be deleting posts from media outlets affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which has been labeled a foreign terrorist organization by the US and faces sanctions.

Instagram, which removed Soleimani’s account last year, is one of the only Western social media services not blocked by the government in Iran. The...

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