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Hezbollah, which is designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department, said Saturday that Facebook and Twitter had shut down its main accounts, reports the Times of Israel.
According to the Times, in a post on encrypted messaging service Telegram, Hezbollah wrote that the shutdowns were “part of the propaganda campaign against the resistance due to the important role of the organization’s information apparatus in various arenas.”
The organization reportedly tried to redirect interested parties to other accounts on both social networks, the paper wrote.
Despite the closures, Internet users were directed to new and already existing pages associated with Hezbollah, the Ynet news site reported.
Although the tech companies have previously blocked pages belonging to the Iran-backed group, the shutdown reportedly comes after recent threats by Israeli officials to take legal action against social media companies for hosting terror groups.
A Facebook spokesperson told Fox News the tech company removes content when it learns about content that could violate its standards.
“The safety of our community is absolutely critical to us. That’s why we have community standards that explain what content is allowed on our platform. There is no place for terrorist organizations or members of those organizations on Facebook, and we remove related content as soon as we become aware of it," the Facebook spokesperson said. "We take this seriously and are committed to making the environment of our platforms safe.”
The Times reports that Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan earlier this month sent a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey warning the company could face prosecution if it does not block accounts belonging to Hezbollah and other terror groups.
FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE STILL STRUGGLING TO STOP TERRORIST CONTENT
Israel's Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has also threatened legal action against Twitter over the social media giant’s handling of posts by terror operatives, the Times reports.
The blocking of the Hezbollah accounts also came a day after the group released new footage on social media from the 2006 border attack on Israeli soldiers that sparked the Second Lebanon War.
The footage uploaded to a Twitter account associated with the terror group appears to show the moments after Hezbollah operatives shot and killed Israeli troops patrolling along the border with Lebanon.
Fox News has reached out to Facebook and Twitter and is awaiting comment.
All the major tech platforms have taken flack for not doing enough to crack down on terrorist content, whether from groups like Hezbollah or organizations like Islamic State.
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