Yemen condemns Facebook and X for banning Yemeni media accounts

The Yemeni Ministry of Information and the National Human Rights Commission in Yemen have condemned the decision by Facebook and X to ban and close numerous Yemeni accounts, including media institutions, journalists, and human rights activists.

The Ministry of Information characterized the move as an illegal attempt to silence voices and suppress facts in favor of a specific regional narrative. It attributed responsibility for these actions to the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, describing the closures as a psychological and media warfare tactic intended to hide crimes committed against the Yemeni people.

The National Human Rights Commission described the bans as a “digital racial discrimination” and a violation of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Commission argued that the platforms are acting as weapons rather than public squares, noting that the censorship coincides with military escalations in areas such as Taiz, Najm, Saada, Sanaa, and Ibb. The Commission has called upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to condemn these actions as technical complicity in suppressing information.