By Pishtaz and AFP | 2023-09-19

TEHRAN -- The Iranian government has increasingly and severely restricted the public's use of the internet in the year since the "Women, Life, Freedom" anti-establishment movement erupted.

Internet speeds were already low in the lead-up to the movement after the 2019 protests over the drastic hike in gasoline prices.

But the uprising caused Tehran to evidently fear protests to the point that it curbed internet access much more severely than it had done before September 16, 2022 -- when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in custody of the "morality police."

In recent years, Iranian citizens have increasingly been using the internet to promote their businesses and sell products, but with the internet disruptions and occasional blackouts, many have been suffering.

Citizens who have family members overseas also rely on the internet to stay in touch with them, and are now deprived of that service unless they purchase VPNs.

Many Iranians have criticized the government for allowing SIM cards connected to the global internet -- meaning internet with no filter or censorship -- for foreign tourists.

In one such instance, Al-Nassr team captain Cristiano Ronaldo received an extremely warm welcome upon his arrival in Iran on Monday, in the first visit of a Saudi football team to Iran since 2016. He was immediately granted unlimited internet access without any restrictions.

This angered many Iranian social media users, who criticized the government for its double standards.

History of internet restrictions

Although the regime's filtering has particularly been noticeable in times of public unrest, it has been steadily filtering the internet in the country since 1998.

Iran has been among the worst countries in the world for internet censorship for years, and finding ways around internet curbs has become commonplace practice.

In 2009, access to social media networks was blocked during mass protests -- which became known as the Green Movement -- following a contentious presidential election.

Popular social media networks including Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), have since been blocked.

A decade later, harsher curbs were imposed after protesters took to the streets over a government decision to raise fuel prices by 200%.

The government spent $773 million in 2022 alone to impose these restrictions, making it the second biggest spender on internet curbs after Russia, according to Statista, a Germany-based data collection website.

In February, Iran's reformist Shargh daily reported that the country's internet service providers suffered 40% losses because of the restrictions.

The results of a study from Comparitech -- a British non-governmental organization focusing on security and the private sector -- has ranked countries based on internet censorship.

Published on August 15, the report placed Iran second after China in social media censorship. Moreover, Iran is the third nation, following North Korea and China, to enforce stringent internet restrictions globally, it said.

In 2021, Iran's Majles (parliament) discussed passing a bill to restrict access to the internet in a way that the regime would be able to fully control what users search and which websites they visit.

The "Cyberspace Protection Bill" calls for a "national internet" -- essentially an intranet, put in place through a "legal VPN scheme" rolled out by the government -- that anyone in the country would need to bypass in order to be connected to the global internet.

This way, users would have to apply for a VPN connection, meaning a much higher level of control and monitoring by the government would be in place.

The bill is unpopular among many, even among some hardline politicians.

Effect on Iranians' livelihoods

Alma, who makes a living by selling leather bags online in Iran, said her business has suffered since the blackout came into force.

"The damage has been irreversible," she said, with profits linked to her Instagram account -- which had amassed thousands of followers -- nosediving 80%.

"Online interactions have dramatically dropped since last year," she said.

The restrictions, which affected online activity including on Instagram and WhatsApp, come as millions of Iranians struggle to make ends meet, grappling with an economic crisis marked by soaring inflation and the Iranian rial's sharp decline.

Some 1,200 business owners have called on Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to lift the restrictions.

To keep her business afloat, Alma has resorted to using VPNs and anti-filter tools to bypass the censorship.

Daily demand on VPN services in Iran rocketed to "3,082% higher than before the protests" last year, according to Top10VPN, a British-based digital security advocacy group.

Mohammad Rahim, a psychologist who offers online therapy sessions, said he lost more than 50% of his clients in the early days of the blackout.

The 32-year-old said he could maintain communication lines with clients in Iran but it was more challenging with those abroad.

For him, the use of anti-censorship tools was "an added cost and probably has security flaws."

The psychologist insists on using international platforms through anti-censorship tools but he fears a total blackout.

"I wouldn't know what to do in case of a total blackout."

The US government has sanctioned two technology companies and two individuals for their role in internet censorship in Iran.

On June 2, the US Treasury designated Iran-based technology company "Arvan Cloud", two of its senior employees and an affiliated company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for their role in facilitating the Iranian regime's censorship of the internet.