With Enemies Like These: Facebook and Twitter Under Iranian Attack

Helle Dale / October 04, 2010

Iran’s mullahs may be hoping to capitalize on Facebook, the movie, which opens in theaters here in the U.S. this weekend, a film also known by its official title The Social Network. Certainly, no one could accuse the leadership in Tehran of not having a taste for drama. Not to be outdone by the Hollywood portrayal of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Iran’s state-controlled television has launched its own attack on Facebook and Twitter, whom it calls “hidden enemies,” and no less than recruiting tools for Western Intelligence agencies. Nothing better demonstrates the potential power of social media for subverting the control of dictatorships around the world by empowering their populations.

According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, whose Golnaz Esfandiari provides some of the best insights from sources within the Iran, Facebook and Twitter have very much gotten under the skin of the country’s leadership. “The aim of Facebook is to identify people for special operations for Western spying agencies,” an official Iranian report said, a video of which can be viewed on the website Mardomak (of interest mainly for Farsi speakers, of course.) (more…)