Earlier this month, Iran’s major general Qassem Soleimani was killed under orders from the United States. With this killing came not only protests from Iran but also censorship from one of the most widely used social media apps in the world, Instagram. Instagram has chosen to censor the Instagram posts of many Iranian journalists and any Instagram users who mention anything positive about the Iranian major general. According to a recent news article by Newsweek, “the Association of Iranian Journalists in Tehran, Iran, called the censorship ‘unprecedented in the history of social networks and in conflict with the very innate actuality of media.'”
In my personal opinion, I think that it is completely inappropriate for Instagram to censor the posts of so many Iranian journalists and citizens. Social media has become such an important tool for communication, information, news, and for venting one’s opinion. By censoring posts from Iranian journalists and citizens, Instagram is unjustifiably taking away the Iranian people’s right to information, to communicate, and to news. Imagine being an innocent citizen of Iran and being denied access to important news and information about what is going on in your own country. I don’t believe that Instagram should have the right to censor important news and information about matters that could drastically affect so many people all over the world.
LIS 4022 Spring 2020 