TEHRAN – The Iran Digital Media Organization of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has announced that it has launched a campaign against Instagram over suspending dozens of Iranian accounts and deleting numerous Iranian users’ posts condemning the assassination of Quds Force chief Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani by the U.S. government.

“This decision proves again the one-sided current of spreading information and the new method of U.S. control over social networks heavily depending on the government, and shows that those who pretend they are supporters of freedom of information place no value on freedom and the rights of the social network users,” the organization said in a statement published on Tuesday.

The organization asked the Iranian Instagram users to join the campaign on https://www.farhang.gov.ir/fa/instagrammediaterror.

The organization expressed hope that the campaign could help file a lawsuit against Instagram in an international court.  

Following the assassination of Quds Force chief Lieutenant General Soleimani in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad on last Friday, millions of Iranian individuals and organizations sent posts on social networks, including Instagram, condemning the assassination carried out by Trump’s order.

Afterwards, a large number of Iranian celebrities and cultural organizations announced that their Instagram posts on the assassination of Soleiman have been deleted or their accounts have been suspended.

In posts published on other social networks, the celebrities and cultural organizations have said that Instagram’s decision to suspend the accounts has violated their basic right to freedom of expression.

MMS/YAW