Welcoming the Closure of Khamenei's Accounts on Meta; Users' Request to X: Elon Musk, It's Your Turn

The removal of Ali Khamenei's accounts from some platforms by Meta has been welcomed by a number of Iranian users on social media, and some users on X have also called for Khamenei's accounts to be blocked like those on Meta. Ali Karimi, a famous football star and a prominent opponent of the Islamic Republic, welcomed the closure of the Supreme Leader's accounts by Meta on Thursday, February 8, addressing his supporters on X with the hashtag 'Death to Khamenei', stating: 'Get to work, your master has lost his page!' Amir Rashidi, a network and internet security researcher, wrote: 'All of Khamenei's accounts on Meta (Instagram and Facebook) were likely deleted due to support for Hamas and the Houthis.' Hussein Tajik, a political activist, criticized Western governments, saying: 'Whenever someone tells you that foreign governments intend to help overthrow the regime, show them Khamenei's daily activities and all his aides, and tell them that foreign governments should not give additional platforms with official ticks to the killers of the Iranian people, help is a gift!' The official Israeli account in Persian also announced the closure of the Islamic Republic leader's accounts by Meta, posting a crying image of Ali Khamenei alongside Ebrahim Raisi. Maryam Bani Hashemi, a civil activist, welcomed Meta's action, writing: 'Finally, we witnessed a step in the direction of this emerging challenge! Aligning the right to freedom of expression with prohibition, prevention, and combating the use of cyberspace for terrorist purposes.' Pouna Samani, another X user, emphasized that 'we still say death to Khamenei', stating that the protests of opponents 'are not over'. Arash Hampei, a former political prisoner, is among the users who have also requested X to delete Khamenei's accounts. He wrote: 'Let's also request X to suspend the father of Middle Eastern terrorism.' Daryush Omran, another former political prisoner, addressed Elon Musk, the owner of X, in English, writing: 'Hello Elon, now it's your turn.' Zaman Fili, a journalist, stated that not only is the closure of Khamenei's accounts 'good news', but it also 'carries signs of the decline of the Shiite caliphate.' He noted that the siege of the Islamic Republic is tightening every day, meaning that destructive foreign agents' evil has outweighed their benefit for the West and they must be gathered. Khamenei's English and Persian accounts on Instagram were deleted by Meta on Thursday, February 8. The deletion of these accounts has been a request raised by some Iranian users on social media for a long time. A Meta spokesperson told the Middle East Eye news website: 'We have removed these accounts due to repeated violations of our policies regarding dangerous organizations and individuals.'