Instagram blocks Iran’s Press TV page in another attack on freedom of speech

Press TV’s social network team reported that the outlet’s account at https://www.instagram.com/presstvchannel has been locked since October 8 for “unknown reasons.”

While Facebook-owned Instagram says it would send what it calls “a security code” for unlocking the account, Press TV has not been able to receive such a code yet.

Despite countless efforts made by Press TV’s social network team to find another way for unlocking the account, Instagram refuses the network’s attempts and calls to regain access to its account.

Press TV joined Instagram back in 2015, and had been posting news-related videos and photos on the social networking app about stories underreported by mainstream media.

Over the past years, the United States has, for several times, taken similar measures against Iranian media outlets, especially Press TV, whose accounts on Twitter, Instagram, and Google-owned services have been targeted.

Although American social networking services are apt to silence Iranian media under the guise of “regulation breaches,” they give anti-Muslim hate groups and Iranophobes a free hand under the guise of “freedom of speech” in a clear double standard.

The US Justice Department announced on June 23 that it had seized 33 media websites used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union, as well as three of the Iraqi anti-terror Kata’ib Hezbollah group, which it said were hosted on US-owned domains in violation of sanctions.

It came a day after a message appeared on the websites of a series of Iranian and regional television networks that claimed their domains had been “seized by the United States Government,” accompanied by the seals of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Commerce Department.

The notice, which also appeared on Press TV’s website, cited US sanctions laws as the reason for the seizure.

The websites of Iran’s Arabic-language Al Alam television news network, Yemen’s al-Masirah TV channel, and Bahrain’s Lualua television network were also among the targeted outlets.

Following the seizure, Press TV announced that its website was available through its .ir domain.