Malia Obama Target Of Iranian Web Trolls, First Daughter Turns Instagram Setting To Private
Malia Obama turned her Instagram settings to private after she was the target of Iranian web trolls. The trolls are known to harass referees from high-profile sporting events that rule against Iran and will comment heavily on political issues they care about. They don’t typically go after a teenage daughter of the President of the United States.
The Middle Eastern news source, Al-Monitor, reports that Iranian trolls have for whatever reason started targeting Malia Obama. The 18-year-old was forced to switch her Instagram settings to private after receiving some unsettling comments. The nature of the comments wasn’t disclosed, but there was enough alarm that another group of Iranians wanted to apologize for the actions of those writing to her. They didn’t want the behavior of a few to reflect on Iran as a whole.
Why are Iranian web trolls targeting Malia Obama? https://t.co/crb2Zga0yj by @jafariysaeid pic.twitter.com/HkGn5ERBiX
— Al-Monitor (@AlMonitor) September 9, 2016
On occasion, Iranian web trolls will lash out at politicians and their families. According to the report, President Obama’s daughter is the latest in these types of attacks. It’s unclear why the trolls had menacing messages for Malia. Some of the comments were intended as a joke, but others were reportedly insulting. Al-Monitor writes that when Malia set her Instagram settings to private, it motivated some Iranian netizens to send Malia direct messages apologizing for the conduct of other Iranians. Malia replied to their messages.
“I understand there are some good Iranians, so to those who’ve sent apologies I accept them,” Malia wrote.
Malia Obama is in the news frequently for enjoying her gap year from school until she attends Harvard University in 2017. Throughout the summer, she’s attended several parties and music festivals, with photos and videos of her on social media partying. In one instance, she was on a cell phone video smoking a cigarette that was allegedly marijuana when she was at the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago on July 31. Following numerous reports of her partying ways, she wore a T-shirt that read “Smoking Kills.”
Cool teen Malia Obama wore a t-shirt with a very *pointed* message https://t.co/lWcid0IUES pic.twitter.com/yECGitssIM
— Mic (@mic) September 8, 2016
The most recent image was of Malia Obama photographed near a large bong at a UPenn party.
Malia Obama has been in the spotlight more than she’s ever been as President Obama’s daughter. The media is covering her own activities and not necessarily anything to do with being a first daughter. It’s possible her elevated status in the media draws more unwanted attention.
As the report informs readers, the behavior of the Iranian trolls isn’t always negative and has led to some positive results. For instance, when movie star Leonardo DiCaprio posted a photo on Instagram of the drying Lake Urmia, Iranian users wrote 50,000 comments and thanked him for the post.
Lake Urmia is in northwestern Iran. DiCaprio wanted to attract more international awareness to the threat of the lake.
So, the question is why would the trolls target Malia or anyone else? Ali Rasooli, a sociologist at the University of Tehran, told Al-Monitor it may have to do with “a desire to be noticed on regional, national or international levels. Also, a lack of proper training regarding these types of technology and methods of communication, and how they should be used, has helped initiate these types of abnormal behavior.”
President Obama was sent messages by Iranian trolls after the Vienna nuclear deal. The Daily Beast reported in July of 2015 that Iranian trolls attacked the president on his Instagram page. Those for and against the deal used all of the social media tools they could, with many of their messages typed in Persian script, unintelligible, or written in broken English. Apologies from those embarrassed by the menacing trolls soon followed, which is what happened in the case of Malia.
No one knows why the Iranian web trolls started targeting Malia Obama. It appears that everything is fine for her now and no additional problems have surfaced.
[Photo by Carolyn Kaster/AP Images]
