BRICS nations should have their own social media, Iranian professor Seyed Mohammed Marandi believes
Iranian professor Seyed Mohammed Marandi has suggested that Meta’s decision to ban RT and other Russian news networks is a sign of the declining power of the US and its allies.
The Tehran University academic told RT on Tuesday that the recent crackdown on Russian media by the US government and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is a symptom of the US’s declining power.
“[Major] social media companies are controlled by the United States. They are effectively arms of the state,” Marandi said, explaining why he believes Meta’s decision should be seen as a move by Washington.
The professor added that while the US previously tolerated some dissenting opinions in the press, it is increasingly silencing them completely or “shadowbanning” voices it dislikes.
“As the West further declines, I think that intolerance is just going to increase more,” he predicted.
Marandi suggests that BRICS nations should take the same approach to social media as they have with international commerce, where they are developing payment methods and financial mechanisms independent of the US dollar.
“If the regime in Washington wants to control X or Facebook – fine. But they shouldn’t be able to prevent Iranians from saying what they want to say, or Russians from being able to speak to the world, or Chinese people from being able to speak to their neighbors,” he said.
Watch the entire interview with Marandi below.