* Parliamentary Research Center’s expert review (December 9, 2019):
* Title changed to”Protection of Users Online Rights and Regulation of Social Messaging Platforms” (July 14, 2020)
* Title changed to “Supporing Users’ Rights and Basic Online Services” (draft presented on July 16, 2021)
* Submission of Parliament Research Center’s expert review (July 28, 2021)
* On December 27, 2021, the legislation’s title and some of its provisions were changed again. The latest title of the legislation is “Regulatory Structure of Online Services.”
The legislation was first presented to Majles (parliament) in November 2018. It was debated in various committees and underwent some minor changes. The name of the bill is currently “Regulatory Framework for Online Services,” but it is more commonly referred to as the “User Protection” bill.
Should the bill become law, it will further limit access to international content and services, . The bill however not yet been passed into law and is still pending in Majles, despite widespread public opposition.
Placing internet gateways under military control, user authentication for accessing the internet, restricting the activities of international platforms and websites for Iranian users, establishing a fund to support domestic messaging apps are just some of the impacts if this bill comes into law.
Signatories of the campaign against the legislation – Iranian startups – Jalal Rashidi Kouchi – Abolhasan Firouzabadi – Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf – Abbas Abdi – Jamal Hadian Zavareh – Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi – Masoud Pezeshkian – Ahmad Zeydabadi – Mohammad Khatami – Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani (Member of Parliament).
A popular online petition also gathered signatures from the public to voice their opposition to the bill.
Ruhollah Momen-Nasab, Nasrollah Pejmanfar, Reza Taghipour, Ahmad Khatami, Hossein Shariatmadari (Kayhan daily), Morteza Agha Tehrani, Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Javad Hosseini-Kia (member of the Filtering Committee), Hassan Norouzi, Javad Karimi Ghodousi.