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Chechnya’s leader nails double standards of US social media

Ramzan Kadyrov underscored that "Facebook is not free in its actions, but is a tool in the hands of US authorities"

Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov Zubair Bairakov/TASS

Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov

© Zubair Bairakov/TASS

GROZNY, January 3. /TASS/. US social networks play double games, Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov said commenting on the United States’ reaction to restrictions imposed by Iran on some social networks amid protests.

"For some reason, Washington does not want to know that the right to expression is sacred and guaranteed to everyone if it does not have extremist views. But when access to the sites of those who have been staging anti-government protests in Iran had been blocked, the US president remembered freedom to expression," Kadyrov wrote in a Telegram post.

"Where is the logic? It could have been nothing, but for the US position when Facebook closed access to my accounts under an invented pretext. Washington was silent in spite of the fact that it was done without any reason," he said.

Chechnya’s head underscored that "Facebook is not free in its actions, but is a tool in the hands of US authorities."

"Those who are pointed the finger at will be blocked," he said.

By closing his account, Facebook has denied his four million subscribers the right to receive information and besides, "confiscated more than 10,000 photos and video footage which are intellectual property," he said.

Kadyrov wished peace and stability to the Iranians.

"Political, economic and social slogans are being heard in Iran. That country is our nearest neighbor and we are motivated to see peace and stability there. But both the Iranian authorities and population are to decide how to achieve this," he concluded.

Earlier, Undersecretary of State Steve Goldstein, in charge of public diplomacy, said the US wants Iran's government to unblock the photo-sharing platform Instagram and some other social media. Goldstein said the United States was communicating with Iranians through Facebook and Twitter accounts in the Farsi language.

In the meantime, Iran’s Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi refuted the reports and apologized to thousands of Iranians for the damage caused by "temporary restrictions."

CEO of the messaging app Telegram Pavel Durov confirmed the channel had been blocked, explaining that the company suspended one channel that contained calls for violence.

Protests erupted in Iran on December 28 when people took to the streets to protest against rising prices. At least 20 have been killed in clashes with police, including police officers. Iran’s authorities say that more than 450 people have been arrested for participating in riots.

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