TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s culture minister has again spoken up in defense of social media, saying Facebook shouldn’t be banned and that it’s not a “criminal application.”

Ali Jannati told the semiofficial Fars news agency today that he uses and posts on Facebook and that an overseer body should lift the existing ban. In the past, Jannati has advocated that all social media networks be accessible to Iranians.

Iran banned the networks over alleged “abuse” after opposition members widely used them during the 2009 unrest following re-election of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Comments are not available on this story.