On Tuesday, Iraq's official media regulator ordered all media and social media companies operating in the Arab state to replace the term 'homosexuality' with 'sexual deviance,' according to a government spokesperson and a document from the regulator.
The term "gender" was also prohibited, according to a document from the Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC). It forbade the use of the phrases in any of the mobile applications of all phone and internet providers that it had granted licences to.
Subsequently, a government representative said that the choice still required formal approval.
The announcement in Arabic noted that the regulator "directs media organisations... to use the correct term 'sexual deviance' and not the term 'homosexuality'."
According to a government official, the punishment for breaking the law has not yet been determined but may include a fine.
Although gay interactions are not expressly illegal in Iraq, members of the LGBT community have been targeted under vaguely interpreted morality articles in the country's penal code.
Major Iraqi political parties have increased their condemnation of LGBT rights in the last two months, and rainbow flags are routinely set ablaze in demonstrations by Shi'ite Muslim groups objecting to recent Koran burnings in Sweden and Denmark.
According to Our World in Data, homosexual actions are illegal in more than 60 countries while they are permitted in more than 130.
