Slack has started blocking accounts with connections to Iran and other countries. Some of the users would hardly have any ties to Iran and live in countries like Canada, Finland and the United States, but noticed that their Slack account was suddenly deactivated.
That’s what the BBC is reporting today. These are accounts of which the owner has visited Iran or North Korea at some point in time. One user states that her account was closed because she had visited Cuba some years ago. Another student from Canada claims to have lost his account due to ethnic ties with Iran.
Visiting is enough
People whose accounts have been deactivated received a message from Slack explaining what happened. Slack writes to them that the company must comply with US economic sanctions and that the use of products and services in countries and regions, including Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Crimea, is prohibited. According to Slack, the blocked accounts have a connection to this.
https://twitter.com/a_h_a/status/1075510422617219077
However, it seems that the company has been a little too rigorous in applying this trade ban. Slack has looked at the geographical location of people. One of the deactivated users reports that a visit to one of the forbidden countries was enough for a blockade. I’m from Belgium. A few years ago I travelled to Iran, according to the user.
One company states that it also has to deal with major consequences of Slack’s decision, after his Chief Technology Officer visited the Crimea. His account has now been blocked, which means that the workspace no longer has an admin, according to a colleague from the CTO.
This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.