If you’re in Iran, you probably can’t read this.
That’s because the Iranian regime imposed a nearly complete internet blackout on its citizens in recent days.
Why? You’d have to ask the Iranian regime, although it may have something to do with citizen protests over gasoline price hikes. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the demonstrators “thugs.” More than 1,000 people have been arrested, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing Iran’s semiofficial news agencies like Fars News.
The Iranian regime has a history of restricting the internet to undermine protests against dwindling economic opportunity and corruption. And recent reports suggest the regime is making networks more centralized to boost its control.
Yet the Iranian people are circumventing the regime’s restrictions through what some describe as “digital resilience.”
While NetBlocks, a nongovernmental organization that tracks internet access, says Iran’s regime has cut internet connectivity in the country to less than 5 percent of normal levels, Iranians are still getting images and video of their protests online. They do this by taking advantage of networks that remain online and at times connect to the internet through satellites or service providers in neighboring countries, according to Bloomberg.
At least two members of Iran’s parliament resigned after not being consulted on the gas price hike, according to The New York Times.
And while the Iranian people suffer, the Iranian regime funds terror around the world.
