Twitter suspends Hamas-affiliated accounts after Hezbollah’s Al-Manar suspended

Twitter suspended the accounts of several people with ties to the Palestinian group Hamas on Sunday, a day after Al-Manar, the television station of Lebanon’s powerful Shia movement Hezbollah, protested that most of its Twitter accounts had been suspended.

Twitter had said on Saturday that Al-Manar's accounts were suspended as a result of violations of the rules and conditions of the social media platform. In response, Al-Manar accused the US-based social media platform of giving in to “political pressures.”

“There is no place on Twitter for illegal terrorist organizations and violent extremist groups,” a Twitter spokesperson told AFP.

“Account suspended,” one such Arabic-language account, @almanarnews, read late on Saturday.

The accounts in English, French, and Spanish were also not available, but the Twitter handles of specific television shows seemed to be functioning.

Several US lawmakers had given Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey a deadline until November 1 to remove all accounts that belonged to terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and individuals associated with those groups.

The United States has designated both Hamas and Hezbollah as “terrorist” groups and several of the groups’ officials are under American sanctions. Iran backs both the groups.

Hezbollah, a key political player in Lebanon, held three ministerial posts and a majority with its Christian allies, before Lebanon’s cabinet fell this week after 13 days of mass anti-graft protests.

(With Agencies)