Facebook reviews policy on posts calling for violence against Iran leaders amid Mahsa Amini protests

Facebook’s oversight board has announced a review of the social media company's decision to remove a post calling for the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Iranian officials amid protests in the country over the death of Mahsa Amini.

The 22-year-old Amini died last month in a hospital after being in the custody of authorities for allegedly violating the country’s modesty laws for not properly wearing a headscarf.

In their announcement this week, board officials described a post in July depicting a caricature of Iran’s supreme leader grasping a “woman wearing the hijab” with his beard.

The image caption reportedly called for the death of the “anti-women Islamic government” and described Khamenei as a “filthy leader.” 

In response, Facebook reportedly removed the post for encouraging violence against a political leader but later reinstated it in August once officials decided to review the decision. 

“As we cannot hear every appeal, the Board prioritizes cases that have the potential to affect lots of users around the world, are of critical importance to public discourse, or raise important questions about Meta’s policies,” the board explained in its announcement. 

The board's announced review this week also follows reports from Facebook and Instagram’s parent companies indicating that agents of Iran’s regime have infiltrated their platforms to filter posts and videos that are unflattering to the regime. 

After news broke of Amini's death, Iranians took to the streets to protest against the regime, chanting “Death to Dictator, “Death to Khamenei,” “Women, Life, Freedom.” 

Iran officials have deployed security forces and the Islamic Basij police who have reportedly to beat, arrest and kill citizens on the streets.

On Monday, in a speech to Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) officials, Khamenei stated that the protests were supported by American and Israeli forces and reiterated the calls for heavy crackdowns against Iranian citizens. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also called for the protesters to cease their anti-regime activities, threatening them with severe consequences.

In the U.S., Iranian Americans and human rights groups have called on social media companies like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and many others to find ways to circumvent the internet ban and allow Iranians to post their anti-regime pictures and slogans without any interruption. 

In the past, reports have come out that Iranian agents who work at Facebook and its parent company, Meta, filtering anti-regime posts and even banning those who say anything critical of the Ayatollahs. 

Former employees from Facebook and Meta have reportedly made such claims. Members of Congress have called on officials from Facebook to respond to such reports.