Toronto (October 8, 2020) - Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) has launched a petition calling on Twitter to deplatform Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – who has used the social media platform to promote the violent destruction of Israel and its Jewish people, Holocaust denial and other forms of antisemitism – to send a message that the promotion of hate and violence will not be tolerated on the platform.

The petition states that while Twitter has a Hateful Conduct Policy, the platform “has failed to adequately enforce this policy in many cases,” particularly in the case of Khamenei who “is one of the most egregious antisemitic voices on Twitter.”

"For years, Ayatollah Khamenei has used his platform to incite hatred and promote the violent eradication of Israel and its Jewish people,” said Michael Levitt, FSWC president and CEO. “All social media platforms have the responsibility to stand against hate speech and ensure safe and welcoming spaces for their users. It's time for Twitter to recognize the hate that it has allowed to fester on its platform for so long and finally take action."

Levitt is one of four members of the Inter-Parliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism, which launched last week, who contributed their voices to the petition.

For more information and to sign the petition, click here.