On November 6 (local time), Israeli writer and speaker Emily Schrader started a petition on Change.org urging new Twitter owner Elon Musk to deplatform Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei. In a tweet, Emily said, “Enough is enough. Elong Musk remove the Ayatollah from Twitter. If he doesn’t let his own people use the platform, why should you let him use the platform?”
Enough is enough. @elonmusk remove the Ayatollah from Twitter.
— Emily Schrader – אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر (@emilykschrader) November 6, 2022
If he doesn’t let his own people use the platform, why should you let him use the platform?
👉 SIGN https://t.co/gWuemrybDX#MahsaAmini #opiran #IranRevolution #مهسا_امینی
The description of the petition at Change.org Emily detailed how the Islamic regime led by Ayatollah Khamenei has caused trouble not only in Iran but in other countries as well. She wrote, “For 43 years, the Islamic Regime in Iran, led by Ayatollah Khamenei, has overseen the brutal and systemic persecution of its own people, torturing, raping, and killing civilians who oppose the regime. The Islamic regime has also overseen the funding and arming of violent proxy terrorist organizations in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and Gaza, and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Muslims, Christians and Jews throughout the region.”
She further held Ayatollah responsible for the designated terrorist organisation Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the morality police. It read, “Within Iran, the Ayatollah is responsible for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) which is a US-designated terrorist organization, and the morality police which routinely harasses and arrests women for not wearing the mandatory hijab. The morality police, along with countless other Iranian regime-associated officials, are currently sanctioned by the US, Canada and the EU.”
She added that while Ayatollah filtered the internet for the general public in Iran and banned social media platforms such as Twitter, he himself used these platforms to propagate his agendas. She said, “When it comes to technology, the Ayatollah’s regime has filtered the internet for its own public, banning social media platforms such as Twitter in their entirety, yet the Ayatollah himself uses the platform to spread blatant calls to violence which are then carried out by his own proxies, as well as Holocaust denial and other forms of conspiratorial hate.”
Emily said whatever Ayatollah publishes on the internet is not the words of a random Twitter user. “They are calls to action from a world leader. The Ayatollah oversees the Islamic regime forces, including cyber forces, which have been repeatedly proven to use bots to target and harass activists who speak out against the regime outside of Iran. This is a stark violation of Twitter’s existing policies,” she added.
She alleged that Ayatollah calls for an end to the United States and Israel on regular bases on the social media platform. “Ayatollah is using an American social media platform which seeks to provide freedom of speech to the public, to spread speech that would be deemed illegal in any US court of law. In doing so, Twitter is allowing itself to be used as a tool of the IRGC – a US-designated terrorist organization,” she said.
Towards the end, she said, “Any leader who bans a platform for his own citizens shouldn’t be able to use that platform as a tool to promote antisemitism, violence and extremism – especially that which leads directly to violence against innocent people.”
Speaking to OpIndia about having a balance between free speech and restrictions on disinformation, Emily said, “Free speech, even offensive speech, is protected by the US constitution — but speech that leads directly to violence is not. Ayatollah Khamenei uses his platform on Twitter, which is prohibited for his own citizens in Iran, to call for violence and even genocide against large groups of people, and to knowingly spread disinformation to fuel unrest and violence. That’s a security issue and Elon Musk must act. This is a very different situation than a Twitter political squabble.”
