No sign of end to Iranian internet blackout despite regime claims | Iran

The Iranian government’s announcement on Tuesday that it would end an 88-day internet blackout had no immediate visible impact, according to internet observers.

It was unclear whether technical or political issues were delaying the end of the longest lockdown in Iran’s history, imposed during protests that were brutally suppressed in January.

Iranian officials pointed out that the return of Gmail to Iran is the first sign that the change that has been demanded and followed for a long time is being implemented. The ban has cut off Iranians from the global internet, except for a privileged few.

Fears of mass unemployment and business bankruptcy led president Masoud Pezeshkian, who campaigned on the slogan of free internet, to lobby security officials behind the scenes to lift the restrictions. An official announcement was made following the vote by the cyberspace management task force.

Iranian communications minister Sattar Hashemi welcomed the decision but said restoring the internet would be a gradual process.

“Internet restrictions in recent months have caused serious damage to the digital economy, online businesses and the country’s service sectors. A continuation of this situation could lead to economic damage, as well as weakening of investments, migration of elite human resources and expansion of communication patterns outside the country’s official governance framework.”

Security officials had resisted a return to the status quo before the protests in January, fearing that free communication with the West could lead to more protests. Iranian authorities frequently accuse satellite channels and social media content of spreading anti-government propaganda into Iranian homes, but many Iranians say the online crackdown is designed to conceal a systematic crackdown on protests, including numerous judicial executions.

Amnesty International said last week that Iranian authorities “arbitrarily executed at least 36 people sentenced to death after being convicted on politically motivated charges. At least 78 protesters, dissidents and others with real or perceived links to banned opposition groups have been sentenced to death and are at risk of execution.”

One estimate suggests that as many as 5 million jobs in Iran depend on the internet, and the crackdown is worsening an already serious economic crisis symbolized by high inflation. The rapid increase in food prices has caused staple foods such as chicken in the diet of Iranians to become unattainable for many families. Female workers, including many in rural areas, have been hit particularly hard by the disruption.

In widely disputed remarks last week, the labor ministry denied that the shutdown caused job losses, saying companies operating on Instagram were switching to local messaging services like Rubika. Many companies said their businesses were dependent on the Google search engine and the total loss to the economy was over $6 million per day.

A survey of more than 900 companies by the Tehran Electronic Association found that loss of access to WhatsApp, Telegram and Instagram means loss of access to 75% of communication channels. More than 223,000 people have applied for government insurance since the beginning of the war; This is a small indication of the number of people who lost their jobs.

The shutdown began during economic and political protests in January, but Iran’s national security council intensified the blackout after the United States and Israel attacked on February 28. Iran imposes heavy penalties on people caught sending information or images to satellite channels such as Iran International.

The national security council has approved a plan – called Internet Pro – to grant paid internet access to certain groups, though with daily usage limits on foreign websites and international data traffic, in a bid to assuage recurring demand to restore the internet as a public right. But the cost of access was prohibitive for many young people.

Platforms like Instagram, X, and YouTube have long been officially blocked in Iran, but they are routinely accessed through virtual private networks (VPNs). The Iranian political class uses X frequently, despite it being supposedly illegal. There is also a lucrative business in selling anti-filtering devices in Iran.