Vehement anti-Zionists designated as ‘Iran state-affiliated media’ by Twitter
Former Labour MP Chris Williamson and sacked lecturer David Miller, who work for Tehran's Press TV platform, have had the rider of added to their personal accounts.
Jenni Frazer is a freelance journalist
Two of Israel’s most vehement and antagonistic critics have been designated as representing “Iran state-affiliated media” by Twitter, the social media platform, following approaches to Twitter from the Community Security Trust.
The former Labour MP Chris Williamson and the sacked Bristol University lecturer, David Miller, have both had the rider of “Iran state-affiliated media” added to the biographies of their personal Twitter accounts. The pair operate as producer and presenter on Palestine Declassified, a programme transmitted on the Press TV platform.
Dave Rich of CST told Jewish News that the move by Twitter was a relatively recent one, identifying people online if they work for state-run media.
Previously George Galloway, the former Labour and Respect MP, threatened to sue Twitter after it added the term “Russia state-affiliated media” to his personal account’s biography.
Rich said that a previous request from CST — which had provided information about the programme’s content to Twitter — had succeeded in getting the Palestine Declassified Twitter account labelled as Iran state media. Additionally, he said, a CST approach to YouTube had resulted in the closure of the programme’s YouTube account last month.
He said: “The decision by Twitter to add this description to Williamson and Miller’s account biographies is a significant step. They are the two most frequent faces on this programme, which is a horrific show in which every episode contains antisemitic conspiracy theories from first to last. We believe it is absolutely fitting that Twitter has done this.”
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