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Iran’s internet blackout is now the longest and most severe ever recorded in any country. Iran’s government plunged its population into digital darkness 70 days ago after the U.S. and Israel launched a war against it. But some people in Iran have stayed online this entire time. NPR’s Arezou Rezvani reports.
AREZOU REZVANI, BYLINE: Accessing the internet is not a right in Iran. It’s a privilege. If you’re a pro-government influencer, you can get online.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED INFLUENCER: We are already free, and we really don’t need your help to liberate us.
REZVANI: If you’re a producer of propaganda, access is no problem.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “L.O.S.E.R”)
EXPLOSIVE MEDIA: (Rapping) Sitting on your throne. Now we turning every base into a bed of stone.
REZVANI: And of course, if you’re a government official, you can keep doing interviews with American media.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You’re speaking to us via Zoom. The…
UNIDENTIFIED GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: …Iranian people don’t have open internet access, but you do. Why?
UNIDENTIFIED GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL: Because I’m the voice of Iranians, and I have to defend their right. So this is why I have access to internet.
REZVANI: For the last couple of months, 99% of Iranians have not been able to get online, according to NetBlocks, which tracks global internet outages. Schools, businesses, banks are only getting by on the state-run intranet system that’s cut off from the World Wide Web. Iran’s government argues it’s hit the internet’s kill switch to guard against cyberwar. Many Iranians believe the blackout is actually about controlling the wartime narrative and suppressing any potential for uprisings. Whatever the motive, one thing is certain, says Amir Rashidi of the digital rights organization the Miaan Group. Government allegiance determines internet access.
AMIR RASHIDI: If you are someone pushing Iranian propaganda, you can get a white SIM card. Basically, you can go on any website you want during the internet shutdown. If you are somebody who is running a business and not as trustworthy as those who are getting a white SIM card, then you can apply for Internet Pro.
REZVANI: The Supreme Council of Cyberspace, a body accountable to the supreme leader, makes the ultimate decision on access.
RASHIDI: They might say, you cannot open YouTube, but you can open Gmail. They might come back and says, your job doesn’t need Gmail. Telegram is enough for you, so everything is blocked except Telegram.
REZVANI: In this tiered system, uncensored white internet and white SIM cards are free for government loyalists. Those who want Internet Pro must pay for their restricted access, and it’s expensive. A gigabyte of data runs about $10.
RASHIDI: If you have spent maybe three hours, four hours on Instagram, probably you’re going to spend all of it.
REZVANI: It’s a scheme many Iranians buy into to get back online. And that’s how the regime asserts its dominance over people, says Ahmad Ahmadian. He’s executive director of Holistic Resilience, a U.S.-based group devoted to digital freedom.
AHMAD AHMADIAN: You have to just, you know, comply with the Iranian government’s rules, and this puts many people in a position of quote-unquote complicity with the regime. And this is exactly what the government wants.
REZVANI: Activists have been countering this internet chokehold by helping people in Iran get their hands on Starlink terminals. Even though they’re illegal to use in Iran and even though security forces are detaining people for using them, digital experts estimate there are some 50,000 units in the country. Ahmadian is exploring ways to optimize them.
AHMADIAN: We are focusing on multiplying the reach of any of those Starlinks by building some services so they can securely share any of this, you know, Starlink nodes, allowing up to, you know, 50 other people to connect to those nodes.
REZVANI: Expanding Starlink’s reach like that would still leave 96% of Iranians offline. But Ahmadian says piercing even that small hole in government control is worth it – a signal to authorities that their grip on the internet can only last so long.
Arezou Rezvani, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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