Instagram is taking down posts supporting slain Iranian general Soleimani

Enlarge / Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in 2013. (credit: MEHDI GHASEMI/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images)

Instagram has been removing posts supporting Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian military leader who was killed by an American strike on January 3, CNN reports. Instagram's actions were first spotted by the nonprofit news organization Coda. In statements to both news organizations, Facebook-owned Instagram said it was taking down the posts to comply with US sanctions laws.

Soleimani was a leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian military that the US has accused of training and funding groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. The Trump administration designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization in April 2019.

"We review content against our policies and our obligations to US sanctions laws, and specifically those related to the US government's designation of the IRGC and its leadership as a terrorist organization," Facebook said in a statement to Ars Technica.

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