{"id":4682,"date":"2024-01-30T11:42:01","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T11:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/en\/?p=4682"},"modified":"2024-02-02T15:43:05","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T15:43:05","slug":"posters-that-swallowed-the-posts-is-it-legal-to-shut-down-instagram-accounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/english\/2024\/01\/30\/posters-that-swallowed-the-posts-is-it-legal-to-shut-down-instagram-accounts\/","title":{"rendered":"Posters That Swallowed the Posts: Is it Legal to Shut Down Instagram Accounts?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seizing Instagram accounts of individuals and businesses and deleting their content by taking control of the accounts is an illegal act that lacks the necessary legal basis under Iranian laws. This not only violates the principle of legality of crimes and punishments and the principles of fair trial in criminal proceedings but also infringes upon the freedom of expression and respect for the privacy of Iranian users.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even under existing laws, only judicial authorities or the Committee for Determining Instances of Criminal Content can issue filtering orders. These filtering orders are communicated to internet service providers to cease their services. However, entering a user's account and deleting its content is not anticipated in the laws.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the months of November and December 3023, and January 2024<\/span>, the pressure on Instagram accounts took a new form. Iranian users witnessed the overnight disappearance of content from many accounts. In the emptied accounts, only one image was prominently displayed. It was a poster announcing the blocking of that page by judicial order.<\/span><\/p>\n

Crackdown on<\/span> activities on virtual platforms is not a new phenomenon. However, what distinguished the recent pressures was their extent. The types of pages that have been prevented from continuing their activities can be categorized into five groups:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Pages of popular women: Athletes, artists, actors, singers, travelers.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Professional pages related to women: Sports and fitness, fashion and clothing, health and medicine, hairstyling, cooking, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Pages belonging to political and social figures.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Pages related to dance and music.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Deletion of pages due to expressing political opinions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n


    \nThe common thread connecting most of these cases is that the authorities did not block the accounts through advanced technical methods or by corresponding with online service companies. Instead, according to news reports, published reports, and first-hand information obtained by Filterban, the passwords were acquired from the victims themselves.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    After summoning and pressuring the account admins or owners, the authorities demanded the passwords and took complete control of the accounts. In one case, which Filterban can confirm, the Instagram account of a popular Iranian female celebrity with a very high number of followers was taken over in this manner. She was also informed that she could not access her account. Even for a long period, whenever a password reset code was sent to the account owner, these codes were obtained by the authorities through contact.<\/span><\/p>\n

    In this way, with minimal changes in the factors that determine account ownership, the relevant entities tried to avoid triggering the security systems of Instagram, which usually identify unusual behavior. This method had previously been used for some Twitter accounts of detained individuals.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The main question is whether the law permits officers and judicial authorities to demand passwords and access to individuals' accounts on social networks. Can a judicial authority, based on the law, remove access to individuals' accounts on social networks or prohibit them from accessing their own accounts?<\/span><\/p>\n

    In what follows, an attempt will be made to answer these questions by referring to the rules of the Iranian Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP).<\/span><\/p>\n

    Blocked, Seized, or Made Inaccessible?<\/b><\/h2>\n

    The posters placed on the Instagram accounts of the victims are not identical. In most cases, after all the posts have been deleted, one of these images is displayed:<\/span><\/p>\n