What is the cost of Instagram filtering and internet outages?
According to Iran Gate, the damage caused by recent internet restrictions to various businesses has been far beyond what was previously imagined. Investigations show the extensive range of harm that internet outages have inflicted on different professions. This damage has seriously threatened the livelihoods and even the daily lives of the middle and low-income segments of society.
Observations from Iran Gate on reports about the consequences of internet restrictions in Iran indicate an unimaginable extent of damage to society. In the second part of a three-part series, the scope of the damage from internet outages on businesses active on social networks is examined. Iran Gate has reached figures that reveal a disaster flowing through Iran’s economy like a ticking time bomb.
A rough calculation
Reports from news sources inside Iran about the number of citizens whose livelihoods are tied to virtual businesses are quite thought-provoking. According to statements by some officials of the Islamic Republic, the livelihoods of at least 10 million Iranian citizens are directly linked to social networks, especially Instagram. In fact, it can be said that the recent internet restrictions and widespread filtering of social networks have seriously endangered the livelihoods of over 10 million people in just the past 10 days.
It should be noted that this figure was about 5 million people in November 2019 when the government adopted a similar policy. In other words, over the past three years, despite the government’s extensive investment in so-called knowledge-based companies, the result has been nothing but a more than 100% growth in internet businesses, particularly on Instagram.
However, findings from Iran Gate indicate that each hour of internet outage imposes a loss of 125 billion tomans on Iran’s economy. In fact, it can be said that in the past 10 days, during which the government has restricted users’ access to cyberspace, the Iranian people have suffered a loss of over 30 trillion tomans. A rough calculation shows that the loss from internet outages over 24 hours amounts to 3 trillion tomans, which in the past 10 days has reached more than 30 trillion tomans.
A simple comparison
To better understand the magnitude of the numbers mentioned in the previous section, it is only necessary to multiply the figure of 3 trillion tomans by the number of days in a year. The resulting figure is astonishing because, according to the above calculations, the annual loss from internet outages in social networks and related businesses exceeds 1 quadrillion tomans.
To simplify the matter, this figure only needs to be compared with the structural budget deficit of the government in 2022. According to the budget approved by the Eleventh Parliament, the government of Ebrahim Raisi is facing a structural budget deficit of 1 quadrillion tomans in the best circumstances this year. In other words, the damage caused by internet outages is equal to the entire budget deficit of the government throughout 2022. This simple comparison highlights the dimensions of the disaster that policymakers and the government of the Islamic Republic have created these days.
Identifying the dimensions of the disaster on Instagram and Telegram
Some internal sources report about half a million Iranian online stores operating on the popular and well-known social network Instagram. However, according to the officials of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, the total number of active businesses on Instagram exceeds two and a half million stores and service pages.
The report from the National Tax Administration also indicates that more than one million Iranian pages on Instagram generate income. The release of this statistic followed the parliament’s resolution requiring active participants in this sector to pay taxes, which also faced reactions from experts at that time.
On the other hand, it is estimated that the number of jobs in online stores active on the Telegram messenger, despite widespread filtering, has exceeded 200,000 jobs. This has led to the livelihoods of about 3 million Iranian citizens being directly linked to the continued access of Iranian users to Telegram.
Inflation, continued restrictions, and exponential growth of losses
Despite reports from Iran indicating a relative subsiding of protests, it seems that the Raisi government currently has no intention of lifting internet access restrictions and consequently the restrictions on social networks Instagram and Telegram.
Experts estimate that considering the Statistics Center’s report on the inflation rate in September 2022, the damage to virtual businesses by the end of the current year will grow by more than 30% and will also result in the loss of more than one million jobs.
This is while Ebrahim Raisi has repeatedly announced the creation of over 900,000 jobs in just the first year of his government. Although economists consider the claims of the thirteenth president to be baseless, even if we assume Raisi’s claim is correct, it must be said that the internet outage policy will only pave the way for adding another one of Seyed of the Deprived’s grandiose promises to his list of false slogans within the next 4 to 5 months.
- Disaster in Iran’s economy: Internet outages make economic growth negative – Part Two
- Who will benefit from internet outages?
- 35 trillion toman loss from internet disruption in just one month