![\"Iran](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/08\/Iran-Regimes-Factional-Feud-over-Twitter-Ban.jpg\" "\\"Iran-Regimes-Factional-Feud-over-Twitter-Ban\\"")
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By\u00a0Mahmoud Hakamian<\/p>\n
In a recent letter to Iran\u2019s Attorney-General, Mohammad-Jafar Montazeri, 8 members of the WGCDICC (i.e., the Working Group for Determining Instances of Criminal Content; which is an organisation that makes decisions relating the filtering of Iran\u2019s cyberspace) called for a review on Twitter ban.<\/p>\n
Montazeri replied to their letter saying: \u201c(Twitter) has been filtered according to a judicial order; there\u2019s nothing that the WGCDICC can do about this\u201d.<\/p>\n
Montazeri even went on to call them criminals: \u201c6 cabinet ministers wrote to me to discuss lifting the ban from certain channels (Twitter) in a meeting; I didn\u2019t attend the meeting, because if I did, I would have been an accomplice to a crime\u201d.<\/p>\n
After Montazeri\u2019s rejection of their request, the regime\u2019s Ministry of Information penned another letter to him in which he declared his \u201clegal reasonings\u201d to Montazeri, asking him to give WGCDICC another chance.<\/p>\n
This time, Montazeri\u2019s deputy jumped in and replied in a rather threatening tone:<\/p>\n
\u201cMinistry of Information\u2019s call for cooperating with the WGCDICC\u2019s regarding a lift of Twitter ban, is simply illegal and criminal in nature. This subject will not be discussed with the WGCDICC or anyone else, and the ban will not be lifted at any stage. If anyone thinks that they can persuade the authorities by mentioning their request twice, they\u2019re wrong!\u201d.<\/p>\n
He concluded that: \u201cTwitter is an American social platform that is under the control of our enemy, not to mention clearly in favour of the riots that took place here in 2009 too! Moreover, this channel contains millions of criminal contents! The Ministry of Information is technically not eligible to have even the slightest say in this matter\u201d.<\/p>\n
These threatening words were not the end of the ongoing conflict, however.<\/p>\n
On August 18, a member of the parliament sent a separate letter to Montazeri in which he mentioned how the filters \u201chave led to the development and proliferation of various kinds of domestic and foreign anti-filters\u201d, and criticised Montazeri on labelling the 8 members of WGCDICC (6 of which happened to be the cabinet members of the Rouhani\u2019s government itself) \u201ccriminals\u201d just for making a suggestion.<\/p>\n
Additionally, a state-run newspaper named Hamshahri also addressed what Montazeri had earlier stated regarding Twitter being an illegal channel: \u201ca significant number of government officials are using this platform themselves\u201d, which would imply that according to Montazeri\u2019s own words, these officials too, are criminals: \u201cif Twitter for instance, is an evil American platform according to some people, then why must some of our highest officials be utilizing it in the first place?\u201d<\/p>\n
The embarrassing flow of these arguments even prompted Abdolhassan Firouzabadi (i.e., the Secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace) to comment: \u201cFirst off, Twitter has closed itself down; also, despite the fact that there can be legal uses of this platform, there is no clear definition of what\u2019s considered legal or illegal on Twitter\u201d.<\/p>\n
When we look back at the freedom of speech promoted by Twitter\u2019s slogan back in November 2009, which read \u201cwhat\u2019s happening\u201d, we begin to see the real reason why the regime feels so threatened with such social platforms.<\/p>\n
The question that\u2019s always been asked about the regime has been whether it would allow the public or the media to report true events? The answer is \u2018no\u2019 of course! Which is evident in their constant bans of various platforms, and their attempts of heavily censoring all social and political events!<\/p>\n
Since the protests of 2009, which stemmed from the increasing awareness of young Iranians, the government has become so fearful of the spread of news in public, that it (with the help of the Ministry of Information and the Minister) has now placed a ban on Twitter, hoping that history won\u2019t repeat itself again against it.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s interesting is that back in 2013, one of Twitter\u2019s founders addressed Rouhani in this regard, on the same platform:<\/p>\n
\u201cGood evening, Mr president. Are your citizens able to read your tweets now?\u201d<\/p>\n
This was the founder\u2019s indirect poke at Rouhani for depriving Iranians from some of their most basic rights, such as their freedom of speech! whilst the president himself gets to continue using the very same platforms!
Many are now wondering why Twitter is banned for all Iranians, except some of the top authorities of the regime itself, such as Khamenei, Rouhani, and other cabinet ministers alike; and why in their cases, Twitter is no longer the evil American channel\u2019 they call it to be?!<\/p>\n
One can admit that the regime\u2019s fear roots in the fact that with the public\u2019s use of this and other platforms alike, will come a relative increase in their awareness, and subsequently a growth of frustration and protests. Which the regime is obviously trying to prevent!<\/p>\n
But the truth is, people will not just stop at filters, and will continue their fight until the regime is subverted!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Mahmoud Hakamian In a recent letter to Iran’s Attorney-General, Mohammad-Jafar Montazeri, 8 members of the WGCDICC (i.e., the Working Group for Determining Instances of Criminal Content; which is an organisation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":51931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[178],"class_list":{"0":"post-25213","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-society","8":"tag-save"},"yoast_head":"\n