Twitter vs Trump spat deepens as US Senate seeks criminal investigation against website
US Senate Ted Cruz called on the Treasury & Justice depts to launch a criminal investigation into Twitter over alleged violations of US sanctions against Iran
- World News
- 2 min read
United States Senate Ted Cruz on Friday called on the Treasury and Justice departments to launch a criminal investigation into Twitter over alleged violations of US sanctions against Iran.
In a letter to Attorney General William Barr and Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, Ted Cruz focused on the social media accounts of Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.
Cruz pointed out that Twitter allows top Iranian leaders to have accounts on its platform and thus, violates US sanctions that prevent providing services or goods to Iran’s officials. Twitter is blocked in Iran.
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“The cohesion and legitimacy of our laws rest on their equal application to all citizens and entities, no matter how large or how powerful,” Ted Cruz wrote.
“The Department of Treasury and the Department of Justice should investigate what appears to be Twitter’s blatant and willful violation of IEEPA and E.O. 13876 by providing services to Khamenei, Zarif, and other designated Iranian entities, and, to the extent appropriate, enforce any violation through sanctions and by seeking civil and criminal penalties,” the Senator added.
Cruz had called on Twitter to revoke the leaders’ access in early February, though the company had denied it violated the US sanctions. Twitter refused to comment on the letter.
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Trump vs Twitter
The US Senate’s call to investigate Twitter comes amid increasing tensions between the White House and the micro blogging site. Twitter had flagged "misleading" claims made by Trump regarding mail-in voting with fact-checked label on Tuesday.
The company also placed a “public interest notice” on a tweet from the US President for “glorifying violence”. Trump had tweeted about the violent protests in Minneapolis over the tragic death of an African-American man George Floyd, in which he had said "if looting starts, shooting starts".
The White House later hit back at Twitter by pointing out that Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei has an account on the social media site, adding that Twitter “is determined to allow terrorists, dictators, and foreign propagandists to abuse its platform.”
In a recent tweet, Khamenei had said that a person killed in “jihad” will receive “one of the two excellent things”. The White House said that the tweet violated the rules against the glorification of violence and questioned Twitter for not flag it.
This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, @Twitter has determined that it will allow terrorists, dictators, and foreign propagandists to abuse its platform. pic.twitter.com/5Qi0m66Vnh
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 29, 2020