TEHRAN: After a series of bruising electoral defeats, Iranian conservatives campaigning in this week’s presidential poll have belatedly embraced social media — a space long dominated by their reformist rivals.
Across Iran’s political spectrum, posting on social media has increasingly replaced street campaigning as the crucial way to rally supporters and attack opponents — even if some of the most popular sites such as Twitter remain officially banned.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the hard-line Tehran mayor, has used Twitter and messaging app Telegram, which has 25 million users in Iran, to release documents accusing his rivals of corruption.
When moderate President Hassan Rouhani, who is seeking re-election, visited the site of a mining disaster last week, conservatives posted a video of his car being attacked by protesters, which quickly went viral.
Another conservative candidate, cleric Ebrahim Raisi, has live-streamed his rallies on Instagram and given unprecedented online question-and-answer sessions.
It marks a significant shift in a country where conservatives have tended to respect bans on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube — leaving reformists a relatively free run on social media.
The bans date back to the 2009 election when Twitter and Facebook were widely used to rally support for reformists and then to organize mass protests when they claimed the result was rigged in favor of hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“The reformist camp always had the upper hand on social media” during 2009 and 2013 elections, journalist Sadra Mohaghegh told AFP.
Conservatives finally came round after a massive defeat in urban areas at last year’s parliamentary elections, in which reformists scored a clean sweep of Tehran’s 30 seats.
“Until then the conservatives had not realized the power of social media, but after that, they realized they had to join the game,” said Mohaghegh, who writes for reformist daily Shargh.
Reformists have continued to score hits on social media.
When hard-liner Ghalibaf claimed he supported female empowerment in the workplace, critics published documents showing he had called for gender-segregated offices at Tehran municipal offices.
But Iran’s hard-liners have some powerful assistance.
Some 18,000 “volunteers” regularly scour the Internet for anything deemed subversive, a top judiciary official said in February.
The arrests in March of 12 heads of popular reformist channels on Telegram sent a chill through the online community.
Six are still in jail, despite criticism from Rouhani and another lawmaker who blamed the elite Revolutionary Guards and told them to stay out of politics.
Rouhani has made civil liberties, including online freedom, a key theme of his campaign.
His administration has rolled out high-speed Internet across the country, making it harder for the authorities to limit access.
“The era of one state broadcaster dominating people’s minds is over,” he said at a campaign rally on Saturday.
“We will set up the communications infrastructure so that each one of you can become the broadcaster with your mobile phones. We will not let Iran become isolated once again.”
The online mudslinging has smeared both sides in a bitterly fought contest. But the use of social media has at least boosted voter interest in the election, and officials are keen to see a high turnout in order to buttress the regime’s legitimacy.
“I think everyone has embraced the competitive campaign atmosphere — it helps build up the hype and enthusiasm,” Mohaghegh said.
Iran hard-liners turn to social media
Iran hard-liners turn to social media
TikTok calls report of possible sale to Musk’s X ‘pure fiction’
- Rumors circulated Monday that TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, is considering selling the platform’s US operations to Elon Musk’s social media platform, X
- Congress legislation could force TikTok to divest its US operations, requiring its parent company, ByteDance, to either sell the platform or shut it down
NEW YORK: TikTok on Tuesday labeled as “pure fiction” a report that China is exploring a potential sale of the video-sharing platform’s US operations to billionaire Elon Musk as the firm faces an American law requiring imminent Chinese divestment.
Citing anonymous people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News had earlier reported that Chinese officials were considering selling the company’s US operations to Musk’s social media platform X.
The report outlined one scenario being discussed in Beijing where X would purchase TikTok from Chinese owner ByteDance and combine it with the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“We cannot be expected to comment on pure fiction,” a TikTok spokesperson told AFP.
The report estimated the value of TikTok’s US operations at between $40 billion and $50 billion.
Although Musk is currently ranked as the world’s wealthiest person, Bloomberg said it was not clear how Musk could execute the transaction, or if he would need to sell other assets.
The US Congress passed a law last year that requires ByteDance to either sell its wildly popular platform or shut it down. It goes into effect on Sunday — a day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The US government alleges TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users and is a conduit to spread propaganda. China and ByteDance strongly deny the claims.
TikTok has challenged the law, taking an appeal all the way to the US Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments on Friday.
At the hearing, a majority of the conservative and liberal justices on the nine-member bench appeared skeptical of arguments by a lawyer for TikTok that forcing a sale was a violation of First Amendment free speech rights.
Bloomberg characterized Beijing’s consideration of a possible Musk transaction as “still preliminary,” noting that Chinese officials have yet to reach a consensus on how to proceed.
Musk is a close ally of Trump and is expected to play an influential role in Washington in the coming four years.
He also runs electric car company Tesla, which has a major factory in China and counts the country as one of the automaker’s biggest markets.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to enact new tariffs on Chinese goods, which would expand a trade war begun in his first term and which was largely upheld, and in some cases supplemented, by outgoing President Joe Biden.
Indonesia plans minimum age for social media use
- Minister Meutya Hafid said plans will “protect children in digital space,” did not specify minimum age
JAKARTA: Indonesia plans to issue a regulation to set a minimum age for users of social media, a move aimed at protecting children, its communications minister has said.
The plans follows Australia’s decision to ban children under 16 from accessing social media, with fines for tech giants from Instagram and Facebook owner Meta to TikTok if they failed to prevent children accessing their platforms.
Minister Meutya Hafid did not say what the minimum age would be in Indonesia. Her remarks, made late on Monday, came after Meutya discussed the plan with President Prabowo Subianto.
“We discussed how to protect children in digital space,” she said in a video uploaded on the YouTube channel of the president’s office.
“The president said to carry on with this plan. He is very supportive on how this kind of child protection will be done in our digital space,” she said.
Internet penetration in Indonesia, a country of about 280 million people, reached 79.5 percent last year, according to a survey of 8,700 people by the Indonesia Internet service providers’ association.
The survey showed 48 percent of children under 12 had access to the Internet, with some respondents of that age group using Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. The survey showed Internet penetration was 87 percent among “Gen Z” users, or those age 12 to 27.
Saudi Arabia chairs Arab media talks in Tunisia
- Mohammed bin Fahad Al-Harthi highlighted the importance of enhancing Arab media cooperation to address development issues and convey the voice of Arab people globally
- Meeting was a key step toward unifying media efforts among member states, with a strategic vision focused on promoting Arab identity
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia chaired the 112th executive council meeting of the Arab States Broadcasting Union in Hammamet, Tunisia, on Tuesday, with the presence of member states and the union’s president, Mohammed bin Fahad Al-Harthi.
Al-Harthi highlighted the importance of enhancing Arab media cooperation to address development issues and convey the voice of Arab people globally, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The meeting was a key step toward unifying media efforts among member states, with a strategic vision focused on promoting Arab identity, shared values and keeping pace with global media developments in line with the needs of Arab societies, he said.
Al-Harthi also highlighted investment projects to provide the union with sustainable financial resources, ensuring its flexibility and continuity, including the creation of a company to serve as the union’s investment arm.
The meeting reviewed the union’s achievements over the past year, discussed challenges facing Arab media and explored investment opportunities to support media integration.
It also covered preparations for the Arab Media Conference, expected to be held in Iraq later this year, which will serve as a platform for exchanging expertise and fostering media collaboration among member states.
The meeting concluded by stressing the importance of continued joint efforts to achieve the union’s objectives, elevate Arab media’s global status and present a positive, comprehensive image of the Arab world.
Head of hostage NGO believes US journalist Tice still in Syria
- Zakka said he had no information on Tice’s precise location but suspected that a deal, possibly involving pressure from Assad’s ally Russia, could see the American journalist released
DAMASCUS: The head of an American organization focused on hostage releases said on Monday he believes US journalist Austin Tice was still being held in Syria by people loyal to toppled leader Bashar Assad.
Speaking to Reuters in Damascus, Nizar Zakka said he believed Tice was being held by “very few people in a safe house in order to do an exchange or a deal.”
Zakka, a Lebanese businessman with US permanent residency who was held in Iran for four years until 2019 on charges of spying, is the president of Hostage Aid Worldwide.
He has traveled to Syria multiple times following Assad’s ouster by rebels on Dec. 8 in a bid to track down Tice, a former US Marine and a freelance journalist who was abducted in 2012 while reporting in Damascus on the uprising against Assad.
Zakka said his group’s own investigation had revealed Tice was still in Syria, and that “a lot of progress” had been made in his hunt in recent weeks. But he added that Syria’s new rulers, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), had not provided much assistance.
“We were hoping that HTS would help us more, but unfortunately HTS did not help us because they had their own concerns,” he said.
Zakka said he had no information on Tice’s precise location but suspected that a deal, possibly involving pressure from Assad’s ally Russia, could see the American journalist released.
Tice was detained at a checkpoint in Daraya, near Damascus, in August 2012. Reuters was first to report that Tice managed to slip out of his cell in 2013 and was seen moving between houses in the streets of Damascus’ upscale Mazzeh neighborhood.
He was recaptured soon after his escape, likely by forces who answered directly to Assad, current and former US officials said.
Tice’s mother Debra has voiced hope that upheaval in Syria will lead to freedom for her son and has expressed gratitude for efforts by journalists and other civilians searching for him, including from Hostage Aid Worldwide.
Zakka said he was in regular touch with Debra.
“She gave us all the power and the support for us to make it happen, to find Austin and to work for Austin,” he said.
Pressure mounting on police to reverse ban on pro-Palestine march at BBC
- London’s Met Police banned rally amid concern over “serious disruption” to nearby synagogue
- Organizers pledge to hold Jan. 18 march following widespread backlash
LONDON: Calls are growing for London’s Metropolitan Police to reverse their decision to ban a planned pro-Palestine demonstration that was set to take place on Saturday outside the BBC headquarters.
The march’s organizers, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and its coalition partners, issued a joint statement on Monday urging the police to reconsider their decision.
They also highlighted their commitment to proceeding with the protest, albeit along a revised route, following widespread backlash.
“PSC are calling on all those who support an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, as well as everyone who believes in the democratic right to protest, to join us in London at 12 p.m. on Jan. 18,” the group said.
“We will assemble in Whitehall, which will allow us to form up in massive numbers in an orderly fashion, and we will march toward the BBC.”
In a statement sent to Arab News on Monday evening, Met spokesperson Chris Humphreys said that authorities were aware of the proposed new route and would meet with PSC representatives on Tuesday to discuss the matter further.
“The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has announced a new route for its march this Saturday. This route is a reversal of the original one that had been advertised,” said Humphreys.
“It is not one we have agreed and it would breach the conditions that have been imposed under the Public Order Act.
“We imposed those conditions because we were satisfied, after carefully considering the evidence, that a demonstration forming up in the vicinity of a synagogue on a Saturday, when congregants would be attending Shabbat services, would cause serious disruption. Our assessment is that a demonstration ending and dispersing from the same place would have the same impact.”
The decision to ban the march, announced last week, came amid concerns about potential “serious disruption” to a nearby synagogue.
The police invoked the Public Order Act to prevent the rally — initially agreed upon in November — from gathering at the BBC’s headquarters.
The Metropolitan Police said that their decision followed consultations with local community and business representatives, including members of the synagogue’s congregation located “very close” to the rally’s proposed starting point.
The PSC has rejected claims that the march poses a threat to Jewish communities.
In a previous statement, the group said: “There has not been a single documented case of a threat or incident at a synagogue in relation to the national Palestine marches that have taken place over the last 15 months of the Gaza genocide.”
Ben Jamal, the PSC’s director, said on Monday: “Hundreds of thousands of people wish to continue to protest at our government’s ongoing complicity with Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.
“They also wish to protest at the complicity of the BBC, which has failed to report the facts of this genocide, as revealed in recent investigations. There are no legitimate grounds for the police to impede our proposal to march from Whitehall to the BBC, finishing with a rally outside its HQ. We call upon the Met Police to make clear they will drop any conditions which will deny the right to protest as planned.”
Over the weekend, hundreds of political, social and cultural figures voiced their support for the right to demonstrate in solidarity with Palestine.
A letter organized by a Jewish bloc that regularly takes part in Palestine marches was signed by more than 700 members of the Jewish community.
Among the signatories were Holocaust survivors and their descendants, who also penned a public letter supporting the rally.
The PSC said that they have written to the police requesting a meeting about the march.
The PSC have been contacted for comment.
