Tehran political researcher Sharareh Abdolhoseinzadeh, PhD in political sociology, discusses internet censorship in Iran…
Internet access was restricted and social platforms were filtered just days after protests began in Iran. The Iranian government used this commotion as an excuse to move towards the establishment of the National Internet.
Internet access restrictions began during the first week of protests against Masa Amini’s suspicious death at Hijab Police Headquarters and continue to this day. But in recent weeks, the disruption of global internet access has never been worse. One after another, all his VPNs are out of reach, messengers and social networks are becoming more difficult to access, and a wave of filtering is sweeping his foreign websites.
On December 4, a news article, citing the 13th Government’s Home Minister Ahmad Vahidi, appeared in the media, claiming that “total filtering of cyberspace” had taken place, but was denied hours later. rice field. On December 18, Mohsen Teb, former head of the IRGC Intelligence Service, said:[t]There will come a day when we will decide who has photos on the platform and who does not. In the past three months, Ebrahim His Raisi Government’s Ministry of Communications has issued conflicting statements on the matter.
Businesses in this country have suffered at least 500 million rials and up to 5 billion rials in losses every day since the government’s internet disruption began. More than 41% of companies lost 25-50% of their income during this period, and about 47% of companies saw their turnover drop by more than 50% of his. A review of data by investigators from the Iranian National Tax Service shows that internet outages caused 3000 billion rials in damages per day. So a three-month internet outage in Iran would cost him 43% of his one-year oil income ($25 billion) in the country.
According to the IODA Internet Observatory, the internet in the states of Kurdistan, Alborz, Tehran, Semnan, Lorestan and Bushehr has been severely disrupted in recent days. Mobile and home internet in Kurdistan has been severely disrupted since around 10:00 pm on Saturday, December 6, and continues as of this writing. A unique IP’s access to the internet in Kurdistan could be almost completely blocked.
Internet restrictions in Iran are not limited to these protests. Facebook and Twitter were also filtered during Iranian protests against the 2009 presidential election. Telegram was also filtered during his 2019 protests. However, the popular use of VPNs has not diminished the popularity of these applications. For years, Iranian authorities have viewed these networks as a threat and are waiting for an opportunity to filter them.
Since July of this year, two months before the protests began, Internet users in Iran have been listed as minors by Google’s web search engine, and search results have been restricted and filtered. 85 million Iranians are now considered children after a long period of network disruption and declining internet quality.
This means that Internet users in Iran will face limited and filtered results if they want to use Google. This is because Safe Search is permanent on these operators’ networks and cannot be canceled.
A follow-up investigation indicates that the issue was implemented by the Ministry of Communications, not by the carrier. The restrictions have opened a new chapter in protecting 85 million Iranians after recent unrest.
Safe Search in other countries is commonly used by users under the age of 18 and in schools and colleges. This also affects the process of scientific and research searches. When a person is looking for research material, they may not see accurate information and may see less useful results.
According to the Citizenship Charter put together by the previous administration, access to the internet and telecommunications is a civil right, so this act is a violation of civil rights.
Free access to communication and information is a civil right, according to the principles of international treaties. However, when such restrictions are in effect for everyone, people have access to incomplete or poor information when searching. There is a nature.
For example, on an international legal level, according to the license agreements of these search engines, safe search features should only be used by users or schools under the age of 18. According to this clause and generalizing this feature to all Iranian citizens, the license is violated. Platform owners may sue violators of this license in foreign courts. For example, in Europe, the Ministry of Communications could be sued in the Human Rights Court.
Iran could face sanctions against these restrictions. If the platform can demonstrate that Iran’s Safe Search feature has been compromised and restricted the flow of information, it can order the complete disabling of Iran’s Safe Search. In fact, services that could have been available are out of reach for all families due to abuse.
Such actions have put the country’s cyber governance in jeopardy An international court could hand down a ruling that would hurt Iran’s cyber governance the most. There is also the potential for financial fines to be imposed on infrastructure telecommunications companies.
Sharareh Abdolhoseinzadeh is a PhD in Political Sociology and a political researcher in Tehran.
Suggestions for citation: Sharareh Abdolhoseinzadeh, International Impact of Internet Restrictions in Iran, JURIST – Expert Commentary, 24 December 2022, https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2022/12/Sharareh-Abdolhoseinzadeh-Iran-internet- censorship/.
This article was prepared for publication by co-editor Rebekah Yeager-Malkin. Please direct any questions or comments to her/her/her. commentary@jurist.org
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