The word censorship is a familiar word to the Iranian people under the regime of the Islamic Republic. Internet censorship in Iran has been enforced by limiting user access since the beginning of the Internet’s arrival in Iran in the 1990s. Internet filtering in Iran, just like the political hijab and other restrictions imposed by the mullahs’ regime, is applied to the entire Iranian society through the adoption of laws. These laws are against human rights and even the methods and their implementation are unclear. Many reports show that the filtering process in Iran is not only about controlling and limiting the Internet, but monitoring and even trying to access user data and spying are also considered part of the system of filtering in Iran.
It was during Ahmadinejad’s presidency that an institution called the Supreme Council for Cyberspace was established by order of the head of the Islamic Republic in 2011. Internet censorship in Iran is based on the laws approved by this institution, which is the highest institution in the field of cyberspace in Iran, according to the decree of the head of the Islamic Republic. It was this institution that declared the use of the filter breaker illegal with the approval of the head of the Islamic Republic.
Internet filtering in Iran means that access to the Internet requires purchasing or providing the filter breaker in addition to the cost of the Internet, and using the Internet is always associated with more costs, time, and energy. There is no specific policy on Internet censorship in Iran, and even filtering is applied at the IP level, which is more like sabotage. Because IP filtering makes sites that do not encounter legal problems inaccessible to users.
In this video, one of the filter breaker manufacturers explains how, right after filtering one of its servers in Iran, Israel is the only country to also systematically filter that same server. This filter-breaker producer, who certainly knows the filtering system and suppression of free Internet in Iran better than anyone, wonders why this is so.
First of all, this issue clearly shows that the information system in Iran is connected with the information system in Israel at the same time. Secondly, the question arises as to why this information is given to Israel and why Israel follows the process of filtering in Iran.
The regime of the Islamic Republic is led by Israel and the Zionists. Apart from this video, there are stronger pieces of evidence about it, but due to the instrumentalization of this regime, propaganda, and Israeli policies, this issue has not been investigated. Israel has gained more control over this regime since Ahmadinejad's presidency. During the time of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency, noticeable changes can be seen in the structure of the system. The formation of IRGC intelligence by merging several intelligence organizations, the formation of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace to intensify the control of the Internet, and the formation of the morality police to intensify the control of the political hijab, etc., were all during the time of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency.
From the very beginning, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's words about the Holocaust and Israel caused international and banking sanctions. Later, Carrefour started operating in Iran with the investment of French businessman Bernard Arnault in 2007 under the name of Hyperstar. Carrefour has been sanctioned by Palestinian defense organizations for participating in the Israeli occupation. Today, Bernard Arnault is known as the richest person in Europe.
Bottom photo: A protester holds a sign saying in French “Carrefour, official partner of the genocide (by Israel)”
In Iran, despite the sanctions and the collapse of the national currency, the mullah regime has access to the most advanced tools to use in repression. Internet censorship in Iran is also applied with the latest tools in cooperation with contractor companies in Iran. Abr Arvan is one of the contractor companies that was sanctioned by the European Union for its role in internet censorship. The European Union removed this company from the list of sanctioned companies and individuals this year. One of the branches of "Abr Arvan" company is located in the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Where Carrefour entered Iran under the name of Hyperstar through Majid Al Futtaim company. This “Abr Arvan” branch in the city of Dubai was included in the sanctions list of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2023.
During the planned protests in November 2019, the internet was cut off throughout Iran for eight days. NetBlocks, the internet watchdog in the world, called this internet outage the most complex and extensive communication outage.
At least 1,500 people were massacred by the regime forces during the planned protests in November 2019, which arose after the announcement of a sudden increase in gasoline prices in Iran. A week before these protests, on November 7, 2019, Tayyip Erdoğan warned that those behind the protests in Iraq wanted to take it to Iran, and Javad Zarif, the foreign minister of Hassan Rouhani, thanked him on November 9, 2019. Despite this, the mullahs' regime suddenly announced an increase in the price of gasoline on November 15, 2019, without prior notice. The announcement of the gasoline price increase on November 15, 2019, was just one day before the anniversary of the Yellow Vests movement against the corrupt government of Emmanuel Macron on November 16 and 17, 2019 in France. The simultaneity of these two events made the Iranian people's protests less heard.
Could the mullahs' regime have expected anything other than protests from the sudden threefold increase in the price of gasoline? If the regime of the mullahs is national and independent and does not implement dictated policies, why did it not choose another method to announce the increase in gasoline prices?
The leader of the Islamic Republic, who is the founder of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, did not accept any responsibility for the increase in the price of gasoline in Iran, which led to protests and the massacre of at least 1,500 people by cutting off the nationwide Internet.
The nationwide shutdown of the Internet in November 2019 is the biggest event in the history of Internet censorship in Iran, but the mullahs' regime has a long history of disrupting the Internet, especially during protests. During the protests against Mehsa Amini's murder, the mullahs' regime once again suppressed the protesters by disrupting the Internet and preventing the voices of the protesters from being heard.
The issue of suppressing Internet freedom in Iran has many details, like other issues, but it should not be considered as a separate issue. We see that the investigation into the suppression of Internet freedom in Iran in relation to the programmed demonstrations of November 2019 highlights many points to understand the essence of the problem. The nature of the general policies being pursued behind the scenes of this regime can be understood by drawing the evidence as dots and connecting them.
The mullahs' regime is listed by governmental and non-governmental organizations outside Iran as enemies of the free Internet worldwide. In some reports, Internet freedom in Iran has been rated as the worst in the world. Various sanctions have been imposed against officials of the regime or filtering organizations. However, it is the collective awareness about the nature of this regime that ultimately brings about greater unity and political change in the right direction in Iran.