In January, official visits by Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi to Russia, and its Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian’s visit to China marked significant moments for the new government’s foreing policy agenda. Though few confirmed details on the substance of these meetings are available, including details of the Iran-China 25 year agreement which was signed last year, it was announced during the visit that the Iran-China agreement had now moved to the ‘implementation stage’. The announcement has raised concerns on whether this could mean even further advances on restricting Iran’s internet.
Meanwhile Iranian online businesses and platforms continue to be put under strain by the country’s authorities, as websites reported being blocked without notice due to “licensing issues”. However, it was not just Iranian authorities limiting online activities this month, as Instagram for a short period restricted the hashtag used to remember the victims of the tragic shooting down of the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752.
Our monthly Network Monitor supplements this report with the latest on internet disruptions in Iran.
Supreme Council for Cyberspace Meeting Emphasises the Role of Domestic Apps and Services
On 18 January the Supreme Council for Cyberspace (SCC) held a meeting chaired by President Ebrahim Raisi. During the meeting, what was labelled as the importance of the expansion of domestic platforms and removing obstacles to their progress was discussed. Also During the meeting, the ICT Ministry was tasked with providing its action plan and timeline to “remove barriers” for the expansion of domestic platforms for business to the SCC.
It is also worth noting that the SCC has been meeting regularly since the arrival of Raisi into office and the appointment of his Cabinet ministers in August 2021.
Iran’s ICT Minister Denies Cooperation with China on a “National Internet”
On 15 January Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, arrived at his official visit to China, during which he announced that the 25-year Iran-China agreement had entered its “implementation phase”. Details of the deal, which was signed by the two countries in 2021, remains largely unknown. However, given China’s highly restrictive and sophisticated methods of internet controls, the deal has caused major concerns for the future of Iran’s internet.
As discussions and speculations on the Iran-China deal were revived throughout January, Iran’s ICT Minister, Eisa Zarepour replied to an Instagram comment calling China’s involvement in creating a “national internet” a “baseless rumour”. However, given Iran’s long term policies of internet localisation through the National information Network (NIN), and China’s well documented surveillance and information control practises, these concerns are valid, and Filterwatch has already written about the threats of this deal on the erosion of digital rights in Iran.
Also further evidence of cooperation between the two countries on surveillance technologies has been emerging. In December 2021, IPVM – a surveillance research group – reported on a contract between Tiandy, a Chinese video surveillance company, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), police, and the military. However, by scrutinising Tiandy’s technologies’ supply chains, the article raised questions about the implications of the US sanctions and whether they can be applied to block such relationships or not.
Large Number of Iran’s Online Businesses Blocked Just Weeks After Government Notice Prohibits the Move
On 4 January, a notice from the President’s Legal Affairs Deputy, Mohammad Deghan, stated that in order to “reduce the obstacles for the country’s startup community” any disputes and complaints concerning startups from public authorities are to be addressed through a working group under control of the President’s Legal Affairs Deputy as a first step before it can be escalated further.
A few weeks later, in a statement released on 20 January, the Iranian online e-commerce website 1DayOff, confirmed that their website had been “blocked without notice following a request from Iran’s ECommerce Union due to their lack of licence”. The incident gained a significant amount of attention on social media, especially from concerned online business owners and startups, as well as by tech news outlets. According to a report by the tech magazine Peivast on 22 January, between late October to November 2021, the Union had requested the blocking of an additional 26 websites from the Police due to a licencing issues; in some cases the Union had even asked for the Police to prevent the website and the businesses’ operations on social media platforms.
Iran’s private tech sector has come under increasing pressure from government and public authorities, as a number of tech platforms and business owners have faced arrests, prison sentences, fines, or as seen above, have been blocked. While the government’s recent notice and new working group aimed to ease such pressures, it is evident that it has so far not been adhered to. It is also worth noting that a similar notice was issued by the previous government which was largely ignored and proved ineffective.
These issues are a major concern for both Iran’s tech sector and those who rely on these services. The lack of clarity from Iranian authorities over the management of online businesses, and lack of uptodate and appropriate legislation and regulations for this sector and instead focusing on legislation to further restrict Iran’s internet comes at a major cost to freedom of expression and technological innovation and expansion in the country.
Support Scheme for Iran’s Domestic Mobile Phone Manufacturers to Resume
On 19 January, the ICT Ministry, the National Centre for Cyberspace (NCC), and the Industry and Mines Ministry agreed on a scheme to provide support, such as loans and financial backing, to “capable mobile phone manufacturers” in the country.
The ICT Ministry’s financial support scheme for domestic mobile phones began under the previous government and the former ICT Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, under whom the production of domestic mobile phones and operating systems gained momentum. Jahromi’s ICT Ministry selected GLX, Parlar, and Sedna as the companies eligible for support, however due to delays, the scheme did not come into effect before the change in government in August last year. It is unclear if the same companies are selected and eligible for support in the new scheme, however, during the first year, the selected companies are to produce around one million devices, with further financial support during the second year.
Iran’s domestic mobile phones play an important role in the implementation of “layered filtering” in Iran, which is set to create a system which gives different levels of access to the global internet as decided by the government.
Instagram Restricts Hashtag Used to Remember the Victims of the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 Crash
The 8 January marked the second anniversary of the tragic shooting down of the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 — which resulted in the deaths of all 176 passengers and crew on board — by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The victims of the tragedy are remembered online under the hashtag #IWillLightACandletoo and in Persian under #من_هم_شمعی_روشن_خواهم_کرد, however the hashtag was soon restricted by Instagram for “because the community has reported some content that may not meet Instagram’s Community Guidelines”. While it is not clear who or why the hashtag was reported, Internet Security expert Amir Rashidi suspects that users close to the Iranian government may have reported the hashtag to stop the hashtag from spreading and gaining attention. The restriction was later lifted and said to be a ‘mistake,’ according to Instagram’s parent company, Meta (Facebook).
Iran’s ICT Ministry Reacts to the Removal Posts Related to the Anniversary of Qasem Soliemani’s Assasination on Instagram and Facebook
On 3 January, a letter from Iran’s ICT Ministry addressed to Meta (formerly Facebook) condemning the removal of posts from Facebook and Instagram relating to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) General Qasem Soleimani on the second anniversary of his assasination by a US drone strike was published online. The letter called for an end to the “censorship” on the platform and for the deleted or suspended accounts and posts to be restored. The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance also reported that the Instagram page of its Minister Mohammad Mehdi Esmaeili was “removed” following a post about Soleimani.
This is not the first time Meta has removed posts about Soleimani; since his assasination in 2020, posts about the killing have been removed from Meta’s platforms due to “US sanctions” as the IRGC is designated as a terrorist organisation by the US. However this is the first time Iran’s ICT Ministry – which is now under the control of the new ICT Minister Eisa Zarepour – has had a major public reaction to the incident. However, the Ministry’s reaction made no mention of the restriction of the #IWillLightACandletoo and in Persian under #من_هم_شمعی_روشن_خواهم_کرد used to remember the victims of the tragic shooting down of the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 — which resulted in the deaths of all 176 passengers and crew on board — by the IRGC shortly after the assasination of Soleimani.
Iranian Research Organisation Releases Figures on Iranian’s Social Media Use
Between December/January, Iranian research organisation, Beta, released a report on Iranian’s use of Instagram, one of the few remaining international platforms not blocked by the Iranianian government.
Though the research methodology is unclear, the report states that the number of Instagram users increased from 47 million to 48 million users between December 2020 to December 2021. The report also states that 1.7 million Iranian businesses operate via Instagram, 2,000 of which were categorised as large to medium businesses. Also according to Tejarat News, 20% of social media users in Iran – equivalent to 11 million people – use these platforms as means to create a source of income, nine million of which do so via Instagram.
A considerable number of Iranians rely on social media, especially Instagram, for business or as a major source of income. Continued discussions and threats around blocking Instagram by Iranian authorities is a major cause for anxiety, especially as the prospect of Iran’s internet restriction bill becoming law looms over them, potentially having a major impact on people’s incomes, especially as the country’s economic conditions continue to decline.
Iranian State Broadcaster Briefly “Hacked”
On 27 January, Iran’s state broadcaster, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) was hacked for around ten seconds according to the organisation. During the ten seconds, photos of Maryam and Masoud Rajavi, leaders of the Iranian controversial political opposition group Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), along with a voice chanting “Salute to Rajavi, death to Khamenei!” appeared on several of IRIB’s television and radio channels. However, an MEK spokesperson denied knowledge of the incident.
It is not clear how the incident took place and who was involved. The IRIB has said that the attack was “highly complex” and is being investigated. There have been a significant number of cyberattacks on Iran’s critical and state infrastructure and services in the past few months, including an attack on the country’s petrol stations and CCTV footage from inside Evin political prison being published online.
Iran’s National Bank Denies the Leak of 75 Million Customer Records Online
On 25 January unconfirmed and unofficial reports claiming that a database containing 75 million personal customer records from National Bank of Iran, Melli Bank, such as full names, national ID numbers, and addresses were leaked online and placed for sale began circulating on social media. In a statement released by Melli Bank on 26 January, the bank said that their investigations on the accuracy of the leak reports are ongoing but that they have found no evidence on the accuracy of the reports.
Major customer data leaks, especially from banks, have a long history in Iran, such as the data leak from Iran’s Mellat Bank in 2021 and Saderat Bank in 2020. Despite the repeated leaks, Iran currently has no laws or regulations in order to protect users and encourage better transparency, accountability, and protections from online businesses and institutions.
Iran’s ICT Minister Mentions Slow Internet Speeds on Instagram Post
In an Instagram post on 12 January, Iran’s ICT Minister, Zarepour commented on the much discussed slow internet speeds in the country. According to Zarepour’s Instagram post, the slow internet speeds are caused by network traffic distribution which means “data moving to different parts of the has to travel through the capital city of Tehran,” which slows down speeds.
Zarepour added that the ICT Ministry, the Telecommunication Infrastructure Company (TIC), Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA), and the network operators are among some of the organisations working together to “redesign the country’s [data] traffic flow” so that data is distributed via local routes instead of through Tehran. This is to be done by creating local Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) and Internet Gateways (IGW) to support network traffic flow. This project is to be implemented across different parts of Iran in phases.
Iranians have been experiencing extensive internet disruptions especially when accessing international services and VPNs. According to an investigation by the Iranian tech news website Zoomit published in October 2021, the drop in network quality is due to the fact that since Raisi’s arrival in office, the SCC has not issued a licence for the TIC to increase their purchase of global bandwidth to meet rising domestic demand. As a result, operators have been downgrading the speed and quality of their services in order to continue to be able to meet their customers’ needs. A claim which the Head of TIC denied in December.
Communication Regulatory Authority Releases Latest Figures on Iran’s Internet Penetration Rates
According to the latest figures published by Iran’s Communication Regulatory Authority (CRA) in January there are currently 11,921,000 fixed internet subscribers, or a 14% penetration rate, while there are 91,844,281 mobile internet subscribers, which places mobile internet penetration rate at 109.27%. While mobile internet rates in the country remain high and are increasing, fixed internet penetration rates are extremely low and slow progressing in comparison.
