Iranian Activists Want Tech Companies to Ban the Ayatollah

Iranian Activists Want Tech Companies to Ban the Ayatollah

Opposition figures and hate speech researchers say Iran’s regime shouldn’t get to shut down social media at home and use it to spread alleged misinformation abroad.

BloombergPeter Guest

Maryam Shafipour spent two years in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, more than three months of it in solitary confinement, as the Iranian regime tried to break her. Years later, she’s in exile in Canada, and the regime, or its supporter base, appears to be trying a different tack: a steady barrage of online abuse and innuendo. On Instagram, Telegram, Twitter and WhatsApp, a quick search of Shafipour’s name in Farsi finds dozens of posts featuring a video that she says sketches out lies about her finances and sexual activities. On Instagram, someone paid to promote one of the posts like an ad, showing the video to more people. Worse, accounts that sort of look like they belong to Iranian progressives regularly imply that she’s been compromised and switched sides.