Hezbollah Slams Twitter for Suspending TV Channel Accounts

Date: 03 November 2019 - 21:16

News ID: ۷۲۳۲۰

BEIRUT (Dispatches) – The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement has taken a swipe at Twitter for suspending accounts and pages related to the movement's TV Channel.
Hezbollah’s TV channel Al Manar accused the U.S.-based social media platform of giving in to "political pressures" from Washington.
Twitter’s decision to suspend accounts run by Al Manar came after a series of protests across Lebanon which led to the resignation of the cabinet led by Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
It also comes amid a rise in the popularity of Hezbollah in Lebanon and in other countries in the Middle East, especially after the group managed to successfully help the government in neighboring Syria to win a years-long battle against terrorists.
A Twitter spokesman told the AFP news agency that the social media platform could not allow "illegal” groups to operate on its website.
However, the same news agency said specific television shows with Twitter names of Al Manar were still available on the platform on Saturday.
The suspension of Al Manar’s accounts on Twitter comes as the website and other U.S.-based social media organizations with vast global audience have repeatedly claimed that they are not influenced by the policies and decisions of the US government.
The U.S. government has blacklisted Hezbollah, a popular group in Lebanon with huge political influence, while government officials and lawmakers in Washington have consistently pressured others to cut or restrict their relations with the group despite the fact that it is represented in the Lebanese government and parliament.