The Iranian flag emoji disappeared from the list on X (formerly Twitter), the social media platform run by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. As anti-government protests continue across Iran and public support for a return to monarchy spreads, some interpret X as indirectly signaling alignment with this trend.
On the 14th (local time), entering the Unicode character for Iran's flag in X's post composer displays a flag with a green, white and red tricolor background and a lion-and-sun emblem. That emblem was on the flag used by the former Pahlavi dynasty, which was ousted in the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution.
The flag officially used by Iran now also has the same tricolor background, but the center bears an emblem that stylizes the Arabic word for "Allah" in the shape of a sword and a crescent instead of a lion. The phrase Takbir, meaning "God is great," is also repeatedly inscribed between the horizontal stripes.
The golden lion flag has been used as a symbol of resistance calling for the overthrow of the theocratic system and the restoration of the monarchy in protests that began on the 28th of last month. On the 10th, protesters entered the Iranian Embassy in the United Kingdom and a scene of the national flag being replaced with the golden lion flag was made public.
Musk has also been making comments that appear to sympathize with the recent protests in Iran. On the 3rd, after Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei wrote on the official X account, "We will not yield to enemies," Musk replied in Persian, "False delusions."
SpaceX, Musk's space company, is also seen as influencing the spread of the protests through its Starlink satellite internet service. Although the Iranian government has completely cut off the internet and communications networks since the 8th to curb the protests, some local citizens have connected through Starlink, sending photos and videos from the protest sites abroad.