Hezbollah Slammed Twitter for its Decision to Suspend Its TV Channel Accounts

Hezbollah’s TV channel Al Manar accused the US-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.

The social network yielded to political pressure after members of the US Congress,Republicans and Democrats, ordered it to suspend all the accounts affiliated with Hezbollah and Hamas, setting November 2 as a deadline for the action.

The US Congressmen rejected to distinguish between the military and the political wings of the organizations they classify as terrorist, stressing that Twitter must not give them any chance to convey ‘hatred’.

Twitter’s pretext was that Al-Manar TV supports Hezbollah, which in addition to its resistance role, plays a big role in the Lebanese political life. It’s represented in the government and parliament as well, due to its large popular support from Lebanese people of various backgrounds.

“There is no place on Twitter for illegal terrorist organizations and violent extremist groups,” said a spokesman for the social network when questioned about the reasons of the suspension.

The Twitter accounts of Al-Manar’s Arabic, French, English and Spanish websites have all been suspended without prior notice.

The accounts which had around one million followers were characterized by its objectivity and accuracy in conveying truth.

The US 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.