Hezbollah's Facebook and Twitter Accounts Blocked

Two days after the release of a new video showing the abduction of two Israeli soldiers, Hezbollah announced on Saturday, June 22, that the group's accounts on the social media platforms Facebook and Twitter were "suddenly" blocked. Hezbollah reported on its Telegram channel that the closure of the group's official accounts on Facebook and Twitter occurred on Friday, June 21, "without prior notice." The media and information office of Hezbollah's paramilitary forces, which participate in military operations in Syria, is included in this ban. Hezbollah accused the two social media platforms, which are headquartered in the U.S., of attempting to shut down the group's accounts, adding that the blocked pages are very important for Hezbollah's information dissemination. Hezbollah has invited its users to utilize other related pages of the group on social media. Despite the closure of Hezbollah's official accounts on Facebook and Twitter, numerous other pages related to Hezbollah are still active. Meanwhile, Lebanese media, including the newspaper Al-Mustaqbal, have noted that Facebook and Twitter have yet to respond to this matter. Facebook had also briefly blocked Hezbollah's main account on this platform in late 2017. The closure of Hezbollah's accounts on Facebook and Twitter comes one day after the group released a new video related to the abduction of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser during the summer of 2006. On Thursday, June 20, Hezbollah released the new footage concerning the abduction of Regev and Goldwasser following its militants' attack on Israeli territory, which led to the 34-day war between the Israeli army and Hezbollah that year. It is still unclear whether there is a connection between the release of this new video on Hezbollah's accounts on Facebook and Twitter and the closure of the group's pages. Hezbollah, which was established in the early 1980s with direct assistance from the Islamic Republic of Iran, including for the establishment of an Islamic government in Lebanon and fighting against "imperialism" and Israel, is considered a "resistance" group by Iran and its limited affiliates, while the U.S., Israel, and Gulf monarchies label it a "terrorist" organization. Nevertheless, Hezbollah, like many other militia organizations, has a significant presence on social media. Miri Regev, Israel's Minister of Culture, and Gilad Erdan, Israel's Minister of Public Security, have recently met with founders and officials of major American social media platforms, urging them to block the accounts of "terrorist" groups and supporters of "terrorism," and have repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction and criticism over the lack of response to this request. In the recent parliamentary elections in Lebanon, Hezbollah secured 13 out of 128 seats, but given the new political alignment of its allied forces, it appears to have strengthened its position in the country's political arena.