Tenney Leads Letter to Elon Musk Urging Twitter to Comply with U.S. Sanctions Laws on Designated Iranian Officials

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-22) today led a letter to Elon Musk regarding the presence of designated Iranian regime officials and organizations on American social media platforms such as Twitter. The letter was also signed by Reps. Elise Stefanik (NY-21), Jim Banks (IN-03), Ken Buck (CO-04), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), Brian Mast (FL-18), Jefferson Van Drew (NJ-02), Ronny Jackson (TX-13), and Barry Moore (AL-02).

The Islamic Republic of Iran is designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST), many of its officials have been named to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in 2019. As a result of these designations, regime officials and entities are subject to secondary sanctions that prohibit U.S. individuals and companies from providing services or material support. Considering these limits, the lawmakers asked Musk to ensure Twitter’s full compliance with U.S. laws, while restoring it as a platform that protects, values, and champions free speech.

“While free speech and the free flow of information on platforms like Twitter are key to maintaining healthy democracies both at home and abroad, the Iranian regime uses this platform to upend democracy and threaten violence, which is exactly why the regime has been designated a State Sponsor of Terrorism and why many of its officials are on the Specially Designated Nationals list. Allowing designated individuals and entities to continue using this platform to incite violence against American officials and citizens, call for the eradication of the Jewish State and its people, and promote its terrorist proxies, is in flagrant violation not only of Twitter’s policies, but also of U.S. law,” said Tenney.

The lawmakers wrote in part, “It is unacceptable that U.S.-designated foreign entities freely use Twitter, despite U.S. laws and regulations that prohibit the provision of goods and services to them. We therefore ask that as you begin to review Twitter’s business practices and policies, you will work to ensure full compliance with U.S. laws prohibiting the provision of services to U.S.-designated entities.”

The full text of the letter is available here.

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