The office of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has officially opened a new Instagram account, in an effort to bolster his image on the popular online photo sharing application.
Assad’s office already has YouTube, Facebook and Twitter accounts, but opened the Instagram account in yet a further way for supporters to “like” his posts.
One of the comments on a picture reads: "We love you," the AFP news agency reported.
Among the pictures posted on the application, his wife Asma is seen dressed informally and deep in discussion with teenagers. In another, she wipes away the tears of a child, according to Al-Arabiya.
But Assad had not received a universally warm reception and, true to form, negative comments have been swiftly censored, with reports saying that some were “apparently removed.”
According to AFP, one online anti-regime activist wrote a message on Twitter saying, "Bashar Assad blocked me on Instagram."
The latest social media activity come as Assad refuses to cede power more than two years into an uprising against his regime which, according to figures released by the United Nations, has left more than 100,000 people dead.
In light of that increasingly bloody civil war, getting blocked on Istagram might not seem like such a big deal.