Iranian Users Forced to Install Domestic Messenger to Register Their Phones
According to new regulations by Iran’s Customs Administration, users who want to receive a mobile phone registration code must install the domestic messenger “WE”.
This lesser-known messenger operates under the supervision of “Samie Applied Smart Systems” company affiliated with Tehran University, and some managers from Iran’s Ministry of Economy have held management positions in this company.
According to a report by Zoomit website, which publishes technology news, in addition to imposing this mandatory approach for citizens, “the Iranian government had previously forced various organizations and institutions to transfer and implement all administrative documents and systems related to businesses on domestic platforms to upgrade the security level in cyberspace.”
In recent years, the Iranian government has attempted to replace these messengers by filtering Telegram and Signal and allocating tens of billions of tomans to support domestic messengers, but multiple surveys indicate the failure of this costly project.
Based on the latest survey published in Shahrivar this year by ISPA polling institute affiliated with Academic Jihad, only 1.8 percent of people use domestic messengers such as Soroush and Rubika.
On the other hand, the latest report from Iran’s Statistical Center published in Shahrivar this year shows that despite Telegram being filtered in Iran for about four years, 45 million Iranians are members of this messenger and 15 billion messages are sent daily on this social network.
Source: Radio Farda
