Internet censorship in Iran

Iran is notable for its degree of government-sponsored internet censorship. , the country blocks approximately 27% of internet sites and , blocks half of the top 500 visited websites worldwide. The Iranian government and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Sepah also block several social media and communications platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Telegram, Snapchat, Medium. The government also blocks some streaming services, including Netflix and Hulu. Sites relating to health, science, sports, news, pornography and shopping are also routinely blocked.

Iranian internet is controlled by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran and the Supreme Council of Cyberspace of Iran. The head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran is elected by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, who advocates that the internet was invented by the enemies of Iran to use against its people. The sixth president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also supports internet censorship in the country. Despite their support of censorship, Khamenei and Ahmadinejad have shared posts on social networks that are blocked in Iran, such as Facebook and Twitter. Iranians use social media despite government restrictions, although many bloggers, online activists, and technical staff have faced prison sentences, torture, harassment and abuse.
In the last few months, two popular applications, WhatsApp and Instagram, were filtered in Iran due to protests against the government.

History

Early 2000s

Iran underwent a significant increase in internet usage in the early 2000s. Many users saw the internet as an easy way to circumvent Iran's strict press laws.BBC News. (2003.)
"Iran Steps Up Net Censorship"
. ''BBC.com''. Retrieved 9 December 2006. As international internet usage grew, its censorship increased and many popular websites were blocked, especially after 2005 under the administration of conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In 2005–2018, Ayatollah Khamenei sent letters to the presidents of Iran, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran, and the Revolutionary Guards (Sepah), ordering them to form a national intranet, called the National Information Network. The National Information Network was unveiled during the 2019 Iranian protests. The NIN works in a way similar to the Great Firewall of China, but with more strict monitoring. After YouTube was blocked in Iran, Aparat, an Iranian online video-sharing platform, was founded. In 2020, due to the activity of an Aparat user, the CEO of Aparat was sentenced to 10 years in prison because of an interview with children about sex and pornography by gelofen TV. The business of selling virtual private networks (VPNs), SOCKS, and proxy servers in Iran is worth millions (USD) due to their large demand. The twelfth Minister of Information and Communications Technology in Iran announced that the lucrative business of selling VPNs and proxies has generated substantial profits for its manufacturers and retailers, and there are efforts to stop these businesses.

In 2006 and 2010, the activist group Reporters Without Borders labeled Iran one of the 13 countries designated "Enemies of the Internet."Tait, R. (2006.)
"Censorship fears rise as Iran blocks access to top websites"
. ''The Guardian UK''. Retrieved 9 December 2006. Reporters Without the Borders sent a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to share its deep concern, and ask for her intervention in the case of two netizens and free speech defenders, Vahid Asghari and Hossein Derakhshan.

2010s

Following the 2009 election protests, Iran ratified the Computer Crimes Law (CCL) in 2010. The CCL established legal regulations for internet censorship. Notable provisions of the CCL include the following: Article 10, which effectively prohibits internet users and companies from using encryption or protecting data, in a manner that would "deny access of authorized individuals to data, computer and telecommunication systems"; Article 14, which criminalizes "producing, sending, publishing, distributing, saving or financially engaging in obscene content"; Article 21, which requires ISPs to maintain records of internet traffic data and the personal information of their Internet users; and Article 48, which requires Internet Service Providers to record data from telephone conversations over the internet.

In April 2011, Ali Agha-Mohammadi, a senior official, announced the government had plans to launch a halal internet that would conform to Islamic values and provide government-approved services."Iran clamps down on Internet use"
, Saeed Kamali Dehghan, ''The Guardian'', 5 January 2012 Such a network, similar to one used by North Korea, would prevent unwanted information from outside of Iran from entering the closed system. Myanmar and Cuba use similar systems.

In 2012, Iran's ministry of information and communication technology began testing a countrywide "national internet" network, as a substitute for services ran through the World Wide Web. It also began working on software robots to analyze emails and chats, to find more "effective ways of controlling user's online activities." One Iranian IT expert defended the program as aimed not "primarily" at curbing the global internet, but at securing Iran's military, banking, and sensitive data from outside cyber-attacks such as Stuxnet. In addition, by late January 2012, internet café owners were required to record the identities of their customers before providing services. According to the news website Tabnak, an Iranian policy statement states:

''Internet cafes are required to write down the forename, surname, name of the father, national identification number, postcode, and telephone number of each customer. Besides the personal information, they must maintain other information of the customer such as the date and the time of using the internet and the IP address, and the addresses of the websites visited. They should keep these informations for each individual for at least six months''.

In preparation for the March 2012 elections and the launch of a national internet, the Iranian government instituted strict rules for cybercafés. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, instructed the Iranian authorities to set up the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, a body to oversee the internet. It consists of the president of Iran, Minister of Intelligence, and IRGC chiefs. It defines policy and coordinates decisions regarding the internet. It is thought to be the strongest attempt at internet censorship by any country to date. It requires all Iranians to register their websites with the Ministry of Art and Culture.

Also in March 2012, Iran began implementing a national Intranet. This effort was partially in response to Western actions such as the Stuxnet cyberattack on Iranian's main uranium enrichment facility, which fueled suspicions against foreign technologies. The government and Islamic Revolutionary Guard's response has been to mandate the use of Iranian email systems, block popular web-mail services, inhibit encryption use by disabling VPNs and HTTPS, and to ban externally developed security software.

In May 2012 Iran criticized Google for dropping the name "Persian Gulf" from its maps, leaving the feature unlabeled. Six days after Khamenei's statement, Iran announced that Google and Gmail would be added to the list of banned sites, to be replaced by the national network. Iranian media reported that the new system would be ready by March 2013. The network already hosted some government and academic sites.

The isolation of the separate network was also touted as an improvement to network security, in the wake of the Stuxnet. A computer virus was also found in Iran's major Kharg Island oil export terminal in April. Communications and Technology Minister Reza Taqipour said, "Control over the internet should not be in the hands of one or two countries. Especially on major issues and during crises, one cannot trust this network at all."

In September 2012 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Western leaders to censor the trailer for ''Innocence of Muslims'', which was posted to YouTube. Khamenei alluded to bans on Nazi-related or anti-gay sites in some countries, asking "How there is no room for freedom of expression in these cases, but insulting Islam and its sanctities is free?"

Starting in mid-2014, the government of then-President Hassan Rouhani sought to ease internet restrictions in the country, with Ali Jannati, the culture minister, likening the restrictions to the ban on fax machines, video recorders, and videotapes after the 1979 revolution.

In December 2016, Iranian Prosecutor Ahmad Ali Montazeri, who heads Iran's internet censorship Committee, banned and closed 14,000 websites and social networking accounts in Iran. He underlined that President Rouhani and the Interior Minister Rahmani Fazli agreed with him and have addressed "serious warnings" on this issue."Iran bans 14 thousand websites and accounts weekly"
, ''Al Arabiya'', 8 December 2016.

As of 2018, it is estimated that between 64% and 69% of Iranians are internet users.

Blocking in 2017–18 protests

During the 2017–18 Iranian protests, the Iranian government blocked internet access from mobile networks and various websites, including Instagram and Telegram, in an effort to stymie protests. At some points, the government completely blocked internet access in parts of the country.Laura Smith-Spark
UN experts urge Iran to respect rights of protesters, end Internet crackdown
, CNN (5 January 2017). A January 2018 report by four special rapporteurs of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern about the blocking, stating, "Communication blackouts constitute a serious violation of fundamental rights".

2019 total Internet shutdown

Beginning on 17 November 2019, the Iranian government imposed a week-long total internet shutdown in a response to the 2019 fuel protests. The blackout was organized by the Supreme National Security Council and Ministry of Information and Communications Technology of Iran. Although access was eventually restored, it was the largest wide-scale internet shutdown in Iranian history.

2022

Despite universal condemnation the government shutdown and slowed internet open-ended permanently since September. US government issued license D-2 sanctions relief for American internet companies to help Iranians.Earlier this the year cyberspace protection act was ran.

.

List of blocked websites

Iran's SmartFilter blocks access to most pornography, gay and lesbian sites, political sites, news media and software privacy tools. Iran has been accused of censoring more internet traffic than any other nation besides China. As of 2006, Iran's SmartFilter is configured to allow local Persian-language sites, and block prominent English-language sites, such as the BBC
...