- It has lasted more than 400 hours, cutting off most online access amid widespread protests and deepening economic strain.
- The shutdown has significant economic and social impacts, disrupting businesses, inhibiting communication and underscoring broader political tensions.
What happened: Mass protests triggered the authorities to limit communication across the country
Since the beginning of January, the Iranian authorities have implemented a nearly comprehensive Internet blockade in response to nationwide protests triggered by economic difficulties, inflation and political discontent. According to the monitoring organization Netblocks, the network connection has lasted more than 400 hours, only about 1% of the normal level. This is the longest lasting and widest network blockade in the country’s modern history.
The blockade not only cut off access to international websites and social media, but also severely restricted mobile data and telephone communications, isolating most people from the outside world. In order to limit all forms of digital communication, even satellite communication services such as Starlink have been disturbed.
The protests started at the end of December last year. People were dissatisfied with currency devaluation, rising prices and economic pressure. The protests quickly spread to all provinces of Iran. The government took strong security measures and used Internet blockade to hinder the coordination of protests and restrict the flow of information.
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Why it’s important
The continuous disconnection has had a profound impact on Iran’s society and economy. For ordinary Iranians, the lack of Internet disrupts their daily life, business, education and communication, resulting in the inability of enterprises to operate digital services, and the people are also isolated from the outside world and unable to obtain news information.
From an economic point of view, this outage is a critical period. Analysts estimate that the long-term disconnection of the network causes millions of dollars of losses to Iran every day, damages industries that rely on network connections, and further exacerbates the existing pressure caused by inflation and currency instability.
From a political point of view, the disconnection highlights the government’s use of communication restrictions to control dissent, although reports of arrests and violent repression continue to emerge. Restricting the flow of information will reduce transparency and the attention of the international community, and cause human rights organizations to worry about the future of accountability and civil liberties in Iran.
