80 days without internet in Iran

BarcelonaSince February 28, when the joint offensive of Israel and the United States began, the regime of Iran has disconnected its more than 90 million citizens from the internet. Eighty days of digital blackout, the longest blackout in history. Previously, Tehran had cut off its connection to the world whenever there had been waves of protests and also during the war last June.

But with the ceasefire signed at the beginning of April, the blockade has not been lifted, and it does not seem that the regime has any intention of doing so. On the contrary, Tehran is consolidating digital repression: only its propagandists and businessmen who can pay exorbitant fees have access to the internet, while the vast majority of the population remains disconnected from the world.

Amir Rashidi, director of cybersecurity and digital rights at Some have the possibility of connecting via satellite to Starlink, from Elon Musk's company, but doing so is too risky. A new law approved a few weeks ago in Parliament equates the use of this technology to espionage.

Until now, the Iranian authorities had allowed the entire population restricted access to the internet. In 2009, with the Green Movement, the wave of protests against electoral fraud, the regime understood that the internet could be a threat and the supreme leader Ali Khamenei established the Supreme Council of Cyberspace. This body was responsible for creating a domestic internet, which was christened the National Information Network (NIN), with its own infrastructure.

Basically, the system worked with a single gateway to the outside world, under government control. At the same time, messaging and social media applications were replaced by local equivalents under regime control: the Iranian version of WhatsApp is Bale, the equivalent of Telegram is Eitaa, and Sorush emulates Instagram. None of these applications allow encrypted messages to be sent, and students had to install them to be able to operate with universities or the administration.

Digital apartheid

Amir Rashidi, director of cybersecurity and digital rights at Miaan Group, an entity that advocates for digital freedom, explains to l’ARA that after the attack by the United States and Israel, the Iranian regime has changed its strategy and is leaving the majority of the population without connection, while only allowing internet access to specific groups: "Internet access is no longer a public service with restrictions, it has become a privilege granted by the regime."

He assures that they have moved from a classic censorship system to a discriminatory architecture: most people can only access the Iranian network, NIN, and only a privileged elite linked to the regime has access to the global network. Furthermore, there are white SIM cards, which require high-level security authorization. Rashidi had to leave Iran in 2010 fleeing repression and now lives in Italy.

The imposed restrictions mean that real internet access is in the hands of a privileged minority, in a kind of digital apartheid. A few weeks ago, Internet Pro was launched, a service designed for businesses, companies, startups, merchants, research institutions, and guilds, which offers less restricted access to international services and a more stable connection.

To obtain it, you must have a licensed company and apply to telecommunications operators, presenting all personal and business data. If approved, the user is assigned a SIM card and can access the internet with a specific IP. This is how a certain level of access is obtained, which is fully controlled and traceable. "Perhaps you as a journalist are given access to the BBC but not to YouTube, and to another person the reverse," warns Rashidi. Furthermore, this system is very expensive: 10 euros per kB, in addition to the cost of the VPN.

Netblocks, which monitors data traffic on the network, confirms that only between 1% and 2% of Iran's connections have continued to function.

Rashid explains that, in the context of the war, the regime's priority is to control the narrative and that is why it allows its propagandists to publish on social networks: "I am against this war, because it generates two problems: the states that attack us from outside, and the regime that kills from within. The voices we hear from within Iran amplify the propaganda. And two months later, the algorithms amplify the machinery."

The internet blockade has also had a devastating economic effect and the impact is even more severe on small businesses led, above all, by women. A Tehran editor contacted by this newspaper, who asks not to reveal her name, explains that the advertising and translation sectors have suffered the consequences of the digital blackout. "Without internet, activity has fallen: I worked in an advertising company that has fired me, like 80% of the staff, and the publishing house has cut my salary in half." Women who supported their families by selling handicrafts or homemade food online have also lost their jobs.

The cybersecurity expert warns that the blackout is not a problem only for Iranians. "The regime has been able to create a technology that allows discriminating access to a free internet system. It is not like China, where the internet has always been under government control. And this is something that it can now export to any authoritarian system."