Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace, chaired by Hassan Rouhani, has given online messaging networks one year to relocate their servers to Iran.
In this resolution passed on Saturday, June 8, Telegram was not mentioned by name, but since Telegram is currently the most widely used mobile messaging service in Iran, it is believed that the Supreme Council of Cyberspace’s primary target is this network.
In two countries, Iran and Uzbekistan, Telegram is the primary online messaging network. Mehr news agency reports that the popularity of this network in Iran is so significant that 12 percent of the country’s internet bandwidth is consumed by it, and it has more than 20 million users in Iran according to some reports.
Popular with the People and Favored by the Government
Many political figures, media outlets, and institutions have channels on Telegram that you can join to stay informed of their views and news. The Telegram channel attributed to the office of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s leader, has more than 350,000 subscribers, and several pieces of news, photos, or videos related to Iran’s leader are shared daily on the channel.
Entertainment, recreation, joke, and humor channels, which Iranians are very interested in, are abundant on Telegram, and one of them called “Badandid” has more than one million members. Through this messenger, goods and products are bought and sold, and there is even a channel where users write about their need for rare medicines and ask sellers for help.
With one simple movement and in just three seconds, you can share news, photos, and videos on Telegram with your friends and family.
At one time, Viber held the top ranking in popularity in Iran, but after this messaging network was filtered and slowed down, everyone migrated to Telegram.
Source: BBC Persian
