In Iran, two years after the Women, Life, Freedom movement sparked widespread social protest, the government continues its crackdown on internet access. The Tehran-based E-Commerce Association has recently recognized this reality in a new report highlighting the role that government surveillance plays in obstructing Iranians’ connection with the world outside. As the report notes, online censorship creates insurmountable barriers for 50 per cent of internet traffic in Iran – though this figure is likely a drastic underestimate.
In the past, Iranians have been able to circumvent the country’s ubiquitous internet censorship by using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), online privacy tools that allow users to access blocked and restricted foreign sites like YouTube. VPN use has become so prevalent in Iran that it has generated a multi-million-dollar market of providers.
