{"id":254421,"date":"2022-01-17T02:56:52","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T07:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=254421"},"modified":"2023-01-31T11:45:33","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T10:45:33","slug":"iran-regimes-internet-censorship-plan-and-its-consequences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/publications\/special-reports\/iran-regimes-internet-censorship-plan-and-its-consequences\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive Report: Iran Regime\u2019s Internet Censorship Plan and Its Consequences"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Internet\"<\/p>\n

According to Iran\u2019s state-run media, the clerical regime\u2019s parliament is about to pass an internet \u201cprotection bill,\u201d restricting the country\u2019s internet and online freedoms even further.<\/p>\n

The bill, which is officially called the “Cyberspace Users Rights Protection and Regulation of Key Online Services,” will disrupt citizen access to international services, primarily social media, and allow the regime\u2019s security apparatus to control internet gateways in order to intensify suppression of dissent.<\/p>\n

In his speech on July 20, 2021, the mullahs\u2019 Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, expressed his utter fear of social media, describing the need to control it as his regime\u2019s \u201csignificant task at hand.\u201d He added that officials should pay attention to it as a \u201ckey issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cyberspace and social media are out of our control. This is a [serious issue]. Social media shouldn\u2019t be used any way [people] want. Like water, it should be channeled properly. Others are now managing social media, and we shouldn\u2019t stand idly by,\u201d Khamenei said, according<\/a> to Tasnim News Agency, an outlet linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe enemy has taken a combat formation through social media. The [regime] should also take its own position and prepare itself,\u201d Khamenei acknowledged.<\/p>\n

Other regime officials have expressed similar fears. \u201cIt is like handing [the social media] to the enemy so it could perform psychological operations amid the economic warfare,\u201d Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali, head of the regime\u2019s Civil Defense Organization, told the state-run ISNA news agency in March 2021.<\/p>\n

Two major nationwide protests<\/a> shook the regime\u2019s foundations in 2018 and 2019. People called for regime change and democracy. When the regime started its brutal crackdown, citizen journalists and the social network of the main Iranian opposition quickly spread the news of the regime\u2019s vicious actions and people\u2019s calls for democracy to the world community. In addition, protesters and the opposition used social media to organize further protests.<\/p>\n

The Iranian regime had to impose an internet blackout to prevent additional uprisings and to stop news and information flow to the outside world.<\/p>\n

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Iran Protests: Nationwide Uprising in Iran- November 2019<\/div><\/div>
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