As a first step towards reducing internet restrictions, Iranian officials opted to relax a ban on Google Play and Meta’s instant messaging app WhatsApp, according to Iranian state media.
About a meeting on the subject led by President Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday: “A positive majority vote has been reached to lift limitations on access to some popular foreign platforms such as WhatsApp and Google Play.”
Pezeshkian had pledged to relax Iran’s long-standing internet prohibitions when he assumed office in July.
According to Sattar Hashemi, Minister of Information and Communications Technology: “Today the first step in removing internet limitations … has been taken.”
The decision’s effective date was not immediately apparent. During Iranian antigovernment rallies, social media channels have been extensively utilised. The United States urged Big Tech to assist in circumventing online censorship in nations that severely restrict the internet, such as Iran, in September. Iran was divided over the prohibition, with some claiming the restrictions were becoming too expensive for the nation.
Ali Rabiei, the Presidential Adviser penned on the media platform X: “The restrictions have achieved nothing but anger and added costs to people’s lives.”
But others cautioned against raising the limitations. According to a story published on Tuesday by the reformist Shargh Daily, 136 members of Iran’s 290-member parliament wrote to the top internet security committee, claiming that the action would be a “gift to [Iran’s] enemies.”
Only “if they are committed to the values of Islamic society and comply with the laws,” of Iran can they be permitted access to limited online platforms, according to the MPs.
BrandSpur digital news platform reports that over time, Iranians have become used to circumventing internet restrictions by utilising virtual private networks, or VPNs. Following their 2009 prohibition, other well-known social networking sites, including Facebook, YouTube, and X (previously Twitter), are still forbidden.
However, following widespread protests in September 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini in jail, Instagram and WhatsApp were added to the list of restricted applications.
Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian, was taken into custody for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s female clothing code. The ensuing months-long nationwide protests claimed hundreds of lives, including dozens of security officers. Thousands of protesters were taken into custody.
