Who will benefit from the internet shutdown?
Who will benefit from the internet shutdown? According to Iran Gate, the widespread internet shutdown in Iran has caused serious damage to various sectors of the country, particularly the field of online businesses. Some sources refer to this damage as the destruction of the livelihood infrastructure of the middle and low-income classes of society.
Since the day Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old girl from Saqqez, was killed while in the custody of the morality police in Tehran, Iranian users have been facing extensive obstacles and restrictions in accessing the internet. These restrictions have practically led to a complete internet shutdown in nearly all small and large cities in Iran over the past 10 days.
For this reason, Iran Gate has decided to prepare a three-part report to examine the dimensions of the damage caused by the internet shutdown to Iran’s economy and the livelihood of ordinary people. The first part of this series identifies the beneficiaries as well as the sectors harmed by the policy of intensifying internet restrictions in Iran.
Raisi’s humble gift in cyberspace
Reports and observations from Iranian users indicate a complete shutdown of access to applications, online stores, startups, commercial and advertising pages on social networks, as well as virtual service companies. However, the mentioned restrictions are only limited to independent online businesses. Users generally report the availability of a handful of non-governmental and quasi-governmental applications and websites. For example, applications like Irancell, Snapp, Rightel, Digikala, Divar, Tap30, and Digikala Bazaar are mentioned.
In other words, businesses that previously had widespread doubts about their corporate governance independence now face a monopolistic market environment thanks to the implementation of internet restrictions. It can be said that any startup or online business that operates independently from the government and other governing bodies is now out of the competition with the giants affiliated with the centers of power.
Therefore, the widespread internet shutdown in Iran might be considered a significant gift for businesses affiliated with influential entities or individuals. This gift is not taken from the government’s pocket but from the people’s basket, who had invested in the startup and virtual space with many hopes and dreams and are now facing the risk of bankruptcy.
Which companies benefit from the internet shutdown?
1. Abr Arvan
During the nationwide protests in November 2019, the name of Abr Arvan was frequently heard as a company providing internet services to the government. Many cybersecurity experts even spoke about this company’s involvement in the widespread internet shutdown during those days. However, after a few months had passed since the protests and the subsequent internet shutdown, the company’s managers took a controversial stance. The young CEO tried to explain the nature of the services provided by his company in a statement, but the public did not accept these explanations, and perceptions of the company did not change.
Until last week, the hacker group Anonymous reported on one of its Twitter accounts that Abr Arvan was involved in the internet suppression of the Iranian people. This group, which includes a large collection of the world’s best hackers, threatened to hack Abr Arvan and disclose precise information about the company’s activities.
However, up to the moment this report was prepared, the Anonymous hacker group has not released any new information on this matter, but some sources have reported cyberattacks on Abr Arvan’s servers.
2. Online stores
Whenever online stores are mentioned, people’s minds automatically turn to the unrivaled virtual giant, Digikala. This mega online store sees everything from cars and motorcycles to the smallest kitchen essentials in its sales basket.
Some sources report the presence of individuals close to the government among the main managers and shareholders of this massive Iranian company. However, it should not be forgotten that with the expansion of social networks in Iran and the emergence of numerous stores on Instagram and Telegram, Digikala lost a significant portion of its customers. Although some independent applications have also entered the competition with Digikala in recent years, none of these competitors have managed to capture the market so far. Observations from users also indicate a lack of access to Digikala’s rival stores.
The filtering of social networks and the internet shutdown have also led to commercial pages on Instagram and Telegram being sidelined from the competition. Now, for 10 days, Digikala has been the sole player in the field and has solidified its position in the online store sector more than ever.
3. Online taxi services
Snapp and Tap30 are two major providers of online taxi services to Iranian citizens that, in light of recent restrictions, have seen their competitors pushed out of the field.
Although competition in the online taxi sector may not be as close and intense as in other areas of online business, it cannot be denied that Snapp and Tap30 benefit from this internet suffocation environment.
Even though Snapp has made extensive investments in expanding its range of activities in recent years, reports indicate that a very high share of Snapp’s revenue comes from online taxi services. Tap30, however, has been a tame competitor for Snapp, but the environment is strangely non-competitive and to the benefit of these two large companies.
Even in past years, one of Iran’s very popular and famous athletes attempted to establish an online taxi company, but in less than six months, this fresh competitor was wrapped up, and once again, the market monopoly returned to Snapp and Tap30.
Domestic messaging apps
The issue of domestic messaging apps profiting from the internet shutdown is not limited to today and yesterday. In fact, the case for setting up a national internet began when the issue of non-cooperation by messaging apps like Viber, Line, Telegram, and WhatsApp with the Islamic Republic intensified.
In this regard, dozens of so-called knowledge-based companies were established, the disastrous outcomes of which can be seen in the portfolio of applications like Bale, Soroush, and other inefficient and impractical messaging apps. Even in 2020, the then Minister of Communications criticized the inefficiency of these messaging apps and called the budget spent in this area a waste of resources.
However, it should not be forgotten that after the protests in November 2019, these companies once again managed to receive significant budgets from the parliament and some quasi-governmental institutions to develop their work. But these days, given the lack of access to reputable foreign messaging apps, people still show no interest in using these infamous and inefficient applications.
However, given the alignment of the government and parliament in adopting hardline stances, it is expected that as soon as the current situation passes and the protests temporarily subside, domestic messaging apps will once again prepare a bag for the country’s public resources and throw the nation’s investments into a bottomless pit that has repeatedly proven fruitless for everyone.
The next part of this article, titled ‘Disaster in Iran’s Economy: Internet Shutdown Turns Economic Growth Negative,’ has been published as the second part.
Iran Gate has also exclusively analyzed and reviewed the internet shutdown.
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