Iran’s Communications Minister Describes Anonymity of Social Media Users as a ‘Serious Challenge’

Iran’s Communications Minister has described the anonymity of users on social media networks as a “serious challenge” and stated that cyberspace should have “specific laws and regulations.”

Previously, Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Republic, has repeatedly criticized responsible institutions for conditions governing the internet in Iran, describing cyberspace as “truly unruly” and “abandoned and unrestricted.”

According to ISNA, Issa Zarepour, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, on Thursday, November 6, met with members of the “Political and Social Commission of the Supreme Leader’s Leadership Expertise Assembly” and, while noting the benefits of social networks, said: cyberspace from our perspective is “an opportunity-creating domain” and “is intertwined with all aspects of people’s lives.”

Stating that today “platforms manage human life,” he said “a country’s borders are where these platforms exist and acquire users” and “governance has fallen into their hands.”

On Wednesday, Mojtaba Tavanger, head of the Parliament’s Energy Economics Committee, criticizing the concerns of “certain individuals with unclear purposes” to restrict people and businesses’ access to the internet, said: “It is said that the data transmission infrastructure of several vital systems of the country is located on the satellite of one of the regional rivals.”

The internet restriction plan in Iran, titled “Protection of Users’ Rights in Cyberspace and Organizing Social Messengers,” is being reviewed by a special commission in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, and Iranian users have previously reacted to it.

Source: Voice of America