Speaking in an exclusive interview with FNA, Dr. Marandi said, “There is a large number of Facebook accounts that have been removed […] from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. In Iraq, especially over the past four months when the Americans were trying their hardest to destabilize the country, social media networks took down huge numbers of Iraqi accounts in order to silence those Iraqis who are opposed to the American occupation.”
“I find it very surprising my account would be removed […] because I am not a major influencer; I am not a public figure in Iran; I am not an Iranian official. I am an ordinary citizen”, he added.
Seyed Mohammad Marandi is an Iranian academic, author and political analyst. He has appeared as a political and social commentator on international news networks such as PBS, RT, ABC, CGTN, CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, and Press TV.
Below is transcript of the interview:
Q: American social media networks are removing accounts related to Iranian voices. How do you view this behavior by the US social media networks?
A: The recent restrictions placed on Iranian websites and the restrictions which now exist with regard to the Iranian presence on social media networks like Facebook and Twitter are part of a broader process. There is a large number of Facebook and Twitter accounts that have been removed from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. In Iraq, especially over the past four months when the Americans were trying their hardest to destabilize the country, social media networks took down huge numbers of Iraqi accounts in order to silence those Iraqis who are opposed to the American occupation, and those Iraqis who were opposed to the instability that was being created by American-backed, Saudi-backed and Emirati-backed groups in Iraq. The restrictions in Iran, as we know, deal with Fars News Agency, as well as media outlets linked to Press TV and iFilm, are a part of a broader process in Iran where many social media influencers are now being harassed and their accounts are also being removed.
The removal of my account in Facebook as well as Instagram (even though I was not very active online, and even now I still have Twitter, but I am not very active on Twitter) I think is a part of that broader process in trying to silence Iranian voices, but also to silence all voices that are somehow sympathetic to the resistance front in our region, meaning the resistance against American occupation and hegemony and empire attitudes that come from the United States.
Q: You are a university professor and senior political analyst, but your own accounts in Facebook and Instagram were shut down. How do you find it?
A: I am not extraordinarily active online. I usually put up links to my interviews which are online. Some people who are interested and who know that I have an account watch those links or sometimes read articles or put a comment.
So, the fact that someone like me who is not very active online is blocked from expressing his views on Facebook and Instagram (I only had two posts on Instagram and I have not posted in the past few months) […] shows the degree of intolerance. I, of course, do not write for Iranian audience; my interviews are almost always in English (very rarely do I speak in Farsi in public or on Iranian TV) and almost all of my comments except for rare occasions are in English as well. So, I do have friends who are interested in what I have to say now and then, but I find it very surprising my account would be removed. Because very influential Iraqi, Iranian as well as Syrian accounts have been removed; accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers, even up to a couple of million followers. When they are removed, one understands that the Americans want to silence influential voices. But to silence a voice like mine, I think it shows the degree of intolerance, because I am not a major influencer; I am not a public figure in Iran; I am not an Iranian official. I am an ordinary citizen. I teach at the University of Tehran. I am a professor at a faculty and in a department of the University of Tehran. So, for them to silence me I think is quite significant in the fact that they would go so far in silencing people and institutions.
Q: You were born in the US, and entitled to the American rights. Are you planning to take a legal action in the US courts?
A: It is true that I am American-born, but I have no plans to travel to the United States or go to an American Embassy. I do not have an American passport, Neither do I even have an American social security number. I have no interest in pursuing these issues in the United States. I think it is a useless process. The Americans are hell-bent on silencing alternative voices, when small and uninfluential voices like mine are being silenced, you can imagine how others are being treated. And, this is not only in our region: this is happening in Venezuela [where] major influencers are being removed from social media networks. Even in the United States it is happening. The process of censorship has escalated extraordinary, and I think it will escalate with Iran and our region in the coming months as well.
I think the best way forward is to seek the alternative social media networks like VK.com or for Iran [or even] the region, or coalition of the countries to produce or create their own social media networks, so that when Americans shut down all the major, alternative and critical voices, these people have somewhere to go. The only thing that I could do was open an account on VK.com which I even didn’t know existed until a couple of weeks ago. But I think that attempting or putting too much effort in remaining in social media networks that are controlled by Western states and governments is useless, because even though they are supposedly private sector, they are closely aligned with intelligence services and Western governments. I think trying to accommodate them and trying to keep them cooperating with us is not a fruitful or useful endeavor. As long as your account is tolerated, you should keep it, but right now I think people should be looking for alternatives and use those alternatives simultaneously, so that when their accounts are ultimately and inevitably removed, they have somewhere to go and people could hear their voices.
