Warning and Concerns Over Internet Business Disruptions if Instagram Remains Permanently Filtered

FCNN EditorSeptember 28, 2022

0 1 minute read

A board member of Iran’s Internet Business Guild says the lives of eleven million people in the country are completely dependent on Instagram, and permanent filtering of this network would render them unable to benefit from it.

Reza Alfatanasab told Etemad Online that the fact that authorities have not clarified after the “current crisis” whether the platform shutdowns will continue or not has created a “worrisome” situation for internet-based businesses.

His reference is to internet disruptions and the blocking of popular networks Instagram and WhatsApp in Iran under the pretext of street protests following the death of Mahsa Amini due to police violence, which has cut off citizens’ access to these two platforms across Iran.

Mr. Alfatanasab warned that with the continuation of this situation, given that many businesses have been built on Instagram’s platform, “filtering and cutting off this platform will deprive people working in this sector of their livelihoods and cut off their income.”

He described the “important issue” as efforts by some groups to continue blocking these two networks, particularly Instagram, even after the “subsiding” of street protests, and characterized this action as “very dangerous.”

This internet business sector activist added: “Because according to statistics announced by the Secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, approximately two million and 500 thousand businesses in Iran are operating on this platform and conducting advertising and sales.”

He further stated that with many “offline” businesses entering Instagram following the coronavirus pandemic, this network has become “much more important than in previous years, and it appears that economic security will be undermined if this situation continues.”

According to Etemad newspaper, available statistics show that the share of online commerce has increased from 1.3 percent of the country’s total trade in 2017 to five percent in 2021.

This report indicates that apart from the high trust of Iranian users in Instagram, “WhatsApp has today become so popular and widespread that it has penetrated into the fabric of all economic activities” in Iran.

This is while the newspaper “Dunya-ye Eqtesad” has written that it appears Islamic Republic authorities intend to permanently block these two networks just as they did with Telegram.

Source: Radio Farda

FCNN Editor

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