Peaceful protests have erupted again in several Iranian cities to decry the high increase in food prices including bread and the deteriorating Economy in the Islamic Republic. However, since the start of the rallies, people have been complaining that the videos or posts shared online to transmit the reality about what is happening in Iran are being deleted from social media.
The BBC has obtained reports claiming that the Iranian Regime supporters working at Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter companies have been reviewing and even deleting videos related to 'price hikes' protests in Iran.
Shocking revelations by @BBCParham of @bbcpersian. This exclusive report reveals that certain employees of @Meta, @Facebook, and @instagram affiliated with/sympathetic to the regime in Iran have been deliberately removing videos sent by protesters.#IranProtests https://t.co/N5SDCL5FVU
— Vahid Yücesoy ?? (@vahid_yucesoy) May 17, 2022
The BBC reports that Parham Ghobadi, Tellas International is currently responsible for monitoring content shared by users on Instagram and Facebook. Tellas International is now receiving all complaints on the two Meta platforms, Instagram and Facebook, owned by Mark Zuckerberg.
According to the sources, Tellas International tries as much as it can to review its employees' work so no mistake is made. However, due to the huge number of workers, it is hard to keep an eye on all the work.
Segment by @BBCParham on Meta’s contracted moderator center CCC in Essen. They interview a persian moderator working at CCC doing reviews for Meta who says they employ 400-500 persian language reviewers and alleged some are biased or pro-Islamic Republic of Iran. https://t.co/1CkOhvBGoq
— mahsa alimardani ? مثلا (@maasalan) May 17, 2022
Two people, one who was an employee at Tellas International and a current one, revealed that some workers had taken actions "in favor" of the Iranian government; which explains social media users' complaints of having their posts deleted from the platforms.
Another Tweep revealed that posts shared by "@1500tasvir" about the Iranian protests that include people, including kids, being hit or killed by the regime forces for holding peaceful protests have been also deleted from the platform too.
Some videos of the ongoing nationwide protests in Iran (people, including children, are being killed) published by @1500tasvir have been removed by IG. Note that even when uncensored, such videos are not accurately represented by the international mainstream media. https://t.co/FJvuGZs9do
— Afrooz Mosallaei (@a_mslp) May 17, 2022
Many separate protests have been ongoing in the Islamic Republic of Iran against the worsening economic situation in the country and the price hikes since 2019 while the regime government is trying its best to cover up the rallies from being shared online by stopping access to the internet in the country and now pro-regime forces are removing such videos from major social media platforms.
During the 2019 protests, also known as the Bloody November, the internet was shut down in the country to cover up human rights violations made by the security forces to curb the people from organizing more protests against the Islamic Regime, Amnesty International reported.
