Iran’s access to the global internet slowly restarted on Tuesday, ending a record 88-day blackout that has contributed to thousands of Iranians losing their jobs and provided cover for the Iranian security services to mount a large-scale wartime crackdown.
The resumption came despite an interim administrative court order questioning the authority of the body overseeing the move, called the “special headquarters for leading the country’s cyberspace”. The body had been set up by the president, Masoud Pezeshkian, a week ago.
Just after 3.30pm local time in Iran, internet access began to return, reaching more than a third of its previous normal level, according to NetBlocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors web traffic. NetBlocks said Iran had been totally isolated from the global internet for a total of 2,093 hours, the longest such interruption for a country ever recorded.
Iranian officials pointed to the return of Gmail inside Iran as the first sign that the long demanded, and trailed, change was being implemented.
Starting at about 1pm BST, Iranian digital rights activists and internet monitors reported a small resumption of traffic to Iran, with multiple internet service providers allowing users to connect. These appeared to include residential fibre networks around Tehran – home internet – and some mobile providers, although IranCell appeared to only have been connected briefly.
Data from the US-based internet analysis company Kentik indicated that Iran’s access was still less than 10% of pre-shutdown levels. Doug Madory, an expert at Kentik, said the restoration so far appeared “selective”.
An Iranian researcher in exile said he was now able to connect to a server in Iran for the first time since the blackout. However, he said, “very little” had been restored and it would take some time to evaluate how connected Iran really was.
Fears of mass unemployment and commercial bankruptcy led to Pezeshkian – who campaigned on a promise of a free internet – to lobby behind the scenes with security officials for the restrictions to be lifted. A formal announcement was made after a vote by the special taskforce for cyberspace management.
Iran’s communications minister, Sattar Hashemi, hailed the government announcement on Tuesday that the blackout was being brought to an end but said restoring the internet would be a gradual process.
He said: “Internet restrictions in recent months have caused significant damage to the digital economy, online businesses and the country’s service industries. The continuation of this situation could, in addition to the economic damage, have led to the weakening of investment, the emigration of elite human resources, and the expansion of communication patterns outside the framework of the country’s official governance.”
Security officials had resisted a return to the status quo prior to protests in January, fearing free communication with the west might engender more demonstrations. Iranian officials frequently blame satellite channels and social media content for beaming anti-government propaganda into Iranian homes, but many Iranians say the repression of the internet was designed to hide a systemic crackdown on protests, including a spate of judicial executions.
Amnesty International said last week that Iranian authorities “have arbitrarily executed at least 36 individuals sentenced to death after being convicted of politically motivated charges. At least 78 protesters, dissidents and others with real or perceived links to banned opposition groups are under sentence of death and at risk of execution.”
One estimate suggests as many as 5m jobs in Iran are dependent on the internet, and the crackdown has worsened an already dire economic crisis and high inflation. The cost of food has spiralled, leaving many staple parts of the Iranian diet, such as chicken, beyond the reach of many families. Female workers, including many in rural areas, have been hit especially hard by the blackout.
In remarks last week that were widely challenged, the ministry of labour denied that the shutdown had led to job losses, saying companies operating on Instagram had switched to domestic messaging services such as Rubika. Many firms said their businesses had been dependent on the Google search engine, and the total losses to the economy were more than $6m a day.
A survey by the Tehran Electronics Association of more than 900 companies found the loss of access to WhatsApp, Telegram and Instagram meant they had lost access to 75% of their communication channels. More than 223,000 people had applied for government insurance since the start of the war, one small index of the numbers losing their jobs.
The shutdown started during the January economic and political protests, but Iran’s national security council intensified the blackout when the US and Israel attacked on 28 February. Iran imposes fierce penalties on anyone found sending information or pictures to satellite channels such as Iran International.
In an attempt to calm the repeated demand for the internet to be restored as a public right, the national security council approved a plan – called Internet Pro – to grant certain groups paid internet access, albeit with a daily usage limit on foreign websites and international data traffic. But the cost of access was prohibitive to many young people.
Platforms such as Instagram, X and YouTube have long been formally blocked in Iran but are routinely accessed via virtual private networks (VPNs). The Iranian political class frequently use X even though it is nominally unlawful. There is also a lucrative business in Iran in the sale of anti-filtering devices.
Additional reporting by Aisha Down
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
