Iran began shutting down the internet on September 19 as protests over Amini’s death accelerated. Since then, several internet monitoring organizations, including Kentik, have net blocks, cloudflareand the Open Observatory for Network Interference, have documented the disruptions. Mobile network operators, including the country’s largest carriers – Iranell, Rightel and MCI – have faced ongoing blackouts, the groups say. Multiple mobile carriers have lost connectivity for about 12 hours at a time, with Netblocks saying it has seen a “curfew-like pattern of disruptions”. Felicia Anthonio, who leads the NGO Access Now’s fight against internet outages, says the group’s partners have reported that text messages bearing Amini’s name have been blocked. “If you send a message with that name, it won’t go through,” says Anthonio.
The fight against Instagram and WhatsApp started on September 21. While cutting off mobile connections is hugely disruptive, blocking access to WhatsApp and Instagram shuts down some of the only remaining social media services in Iran. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been banned for years. Iranian state-sponsored media said it was unclear how long the blocks on Instagram and WhatsApp would last, but that they had been imposed for “national security” reasons. “It seems they are targeting these platforms that are the lifeblood of information and communication that keep the protests alive,” said Mahsa Alimardani, an academic at the Oxford Internet Institute who has Extensive investigation into internet shutdown and monitoring in Iran.
The 1500tasvir team member says the account, which is operated by a group of about 10 nuclear people both inside and outside Iran, is posting videos documenting the protests. Local people send the videos — patchy connections are available in some areas and wired Wi-Fi still works — and the group checks the content before posting it online. The group claims to receive more than 1,000 videos a day and its Instagram account has more than 450,000 followers.
Shutting down the internet could have a “huge” impact on protests, the 1500tasvir team member says, because if people in Iran can’t see others protesting, they will likely quit themselves. “Seeing… other people feel the same way makes you braver. You’re more excited to do something about it,” they say. “When the internet is shut down… you feel alone.”
The blockades against WhatsApp also seem to have affected people outside of Iran. People using Iranian +98 phone numbers have complained that WhatsApp is slow or not working at all. WhatsApp has refused it makes every effort to block Iranian phone numbers. However, the meta-company has declined to provide more information on why +98 numbers outside of Iran have encountered problems. “There’s something strange going on, and it probably has to do with the way Iran applies censorship on these different platforms because it seems a bit more targeted,” Alimardani says.
In recent years, governments seeking to silence their citizens or control their behavior have increasingly gone draconian internet interruptions as means of suppression. In 2021, 23 countries, from Cuba to Bangladesh, have shut down the internet no less than 182 times. Iranian officials are no strangers to the practice. Anthonio says the latest internet shutdown in Iran is the third time the country has disrupted the internet in the past 12 months. “We still see that shutting down the internet also provides a cover for authorities to hide atrocities committed against people during protests,” Anthonio said.