Social media platform X reactivated the official account of the Syrian presidency on Monday, hours after it was suspended for no known reason.
Late on Sunday, activists sharply criticised X after it emerged that the Syrian presidency account appeared to have been arbitrarily suspended. The move came moments after it posted a picture of interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on a plane headed to Riyadh.
The account, which goes under the username “@G_CSyria”, was blocked by the Elon Musk-owned social platform with the message “X suspends accounts that violate our rules” appearing when users tried to access it.
This message usually indicates that the account has acted in a manner that violates twitter user guidelines, which have been relaxed since Musk took over the site, yet the Syrian presidency account did not post anything that could be considered as breaking the rules.
“It’s astonishing that X has suspended the official account of the #Syrian Arab Republic’s new government while the Assad regime’s account remains active despite its record of atrocities!!,” one user wrote.
“Whether this is gross incompetence or a coordinated effort by allies of the ousted regime, it must be corrected immediately. This account is crucial for official communications and keeping the Syrian people informed,” he added.
However, hours later, the account was reinstated, without any explanation from X or from the Syrian government.
“The official account of the Presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic is back in operation and will not be deleted again, God willing,” the Syrian journalist Qutayba Yassin wrote early on Monday morning.
Earlier on Sunday, the Syrian presidency revealed that its official logo had been modified after the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, with the new flag and colours placed in the background.
This has led some to believe that the suspension was perhaps due to confusion among X moderators around the authenticity of the account.
After Syrian rebels, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), launched a lighting offensive that toppled Assad late last year, a new interim government has been set up with Mohammed al-Bashir of HTS as the interim prime minister until 1 March.
Last week, the leader of HTS and de facto leader of Syria Ahmed al-Sharaa was announced as the interim president, serving as head of state and overseeing the country’s transitional phase.
