Iran: Policing the Internet and Social Media

[Len]

Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution was not only a political revolution but also an ideological one. Adherence to the Islamic Republic’s values and morals is mandatory, and the Iranian government has inaugurated multiple security agencies to ensure that Iranians obey and submit to the ideology of the regime. The expansion of the internet, particularly social media, however, poses an increasing challenge to Iranian security forces. To deal with this challenge, the Iranian government set up a cyber-police force charged with policing the internet and social media. In the excerpted article from the cyber-police website, the chief of cyber police details a huge increase in crimes committed on the internet. Whereas in past years, he spoke about crackdowns on ‘moral crimes’ (code for pornography), this year he singled out social media and especially Telegram (a cloud-based instant messaging service) and Instagram (a photo and video-sharing service) as being involved in almost two-thirds of the cyber crimes investigated and prosecuted.

The cyber-police emphasis on Telegram may reflect fear that politicians and civil society leaders upset with the shrinking public and social space under current President Hassan Rouhani may turn to social media to organize. Iranian police recently arrested six administrators for reform-minded chat channels on Telegram. However, according to an interview with their lawyer published in the excerpted Iran Labor News Agency article, the judiciary subsequently released them on bail. They may have been pawns in a larger behind-the-scenes fight over government control and access to social media. On 26 July, for example, Iran’s public prosecutor deputy for cyberspace affairs threatened to bring charges against the minister of communications if he did not take more robust action to block social media “with criminal content.” Four days later, the Iranian press reported Telegram had moved its servers into Iran in an apparent compromise whereby it could still operate but Iranian police would have greater access to monitor the platform. (Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov, however, denied in a tweet that the company had transferred any servers into Iran). Ordinary Iranians might not see Durov’s denial, however, as cyber-police chief Hadianfar reaffirmed Iran’s ban on Twitter.

For several decades, Iranian police and security forces sought to weed out terror cells, police women’s clothing, prevent drug trafficking and alcohol consumption, and break up mixed gender parties. Recent events suggest that concern over social media and the Iranian government’s ability to monitor and control it are leapfrogging over other police priorities.