The decision to filter Telegram was not the government’s decision, but a judge’s ruling

The decision to filter Telegram was not made by the government, but by a judge.

Azari Jahromi, the Minister of Communications in Rouhani’s government, pays eight dollars monthly for a foreign VoIP service, while he pays five dollars monthly for his mobile internet service.

When you see startups leaving the country and migrating, and on the other hand, you see the sales statistics, it indicates that the digital economy is shrinking.

From the recent financial reports I examined, I realized that Hamrah-e-Aval (the first mobile network operator in Iran) had a decrease in revenue of about 700 to 800 billion tomans.

Do you remember what was filtered during our time? The decision to filter Telegram was not made by the government, but it was done based on the opinion of one of the judges.

In 1998, with the decision of the Supreme National Security Council, the internet was disconnected and then reconnected with the same council’s decision.

I was against the internet shutdown, but I couldn’t go against the law.

Perhaps because Mr. Rouhani is not the president, during recent unrests like in Aban 1398 (October 2019), the internet was not completely disconnected, and after the end of the unrests, the restrictions are still in place.