Who will benefit from the internet shutdown?
Who will benefit from the internet shutdown? According to Iran Gate, the widespread internet outage in Iran has caused significant harm to various sectors of the country, especially the field of online businesses. Some sources describe 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 in the custody of the morality police in Tehran, Iranian users have faced extensive obstacles and restrictions in accessing the internet. These restrictions have effectively turned into a complete internet shutdown in almost all small and large cities of Iran over the past 10 days.
As a result, Iran Gate has decided to prepare a three-part report to examine the dimensions of the damage that the internet shutdown has caused to Iran’s economy and the livelihood of ordinary people. In the first part of this series, the beneficiaries and the sectors harmed by the policy of intensifying internet restrictions in Iran are identified.
Raisi’s insignificant gift in the virtual space
Reports and observations from Iranian users indicate a complete shutdown of access to apps, 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 apps and websites. For example, apps like Irancell, Snapp, RighTel, Digikala, Divar, Tap30, and Bazare Digikala are mentioned.
In other words, businesses that previously had widespread doubts about their independence in corporate governance now face a monopolistic market environment thanks to internet restrictions. In fact, it can be said that any startup or online business operating independently of the government and other governing bodies has now been sidelined from competing with the giants affiliated with the power institutions.
Therefore, the widespread internet shutdown in Iran might be considered a big gift for businesses affiliated with influential institutions or individuals. A gift that has been taken not from the government’s pocket but from the public’s basket, who had invested with many hopes and dreams in the startup and virtual space and are now facing the risk of bankruptcy.
Which companies benefit from the internet shutdown?
1. Abr Arvan
Following the public protests in November 2019, the name of Abr Arvan was repeatedly heard as a company providing internet services to the government. Many cybersecurity experts even spoke of this company’s involvement in the widespread internet shutdown during those days. However, the company’s managers took a controversial stance a few months after the protests and the subsequent internet shutdown. The young CEO of this company tried to explain the service delivery of his managed company in a statement, but the public did not accept such explanations, and perceptions of the company did not change.
Until last week, when the hacker group Anonymous reported on one of its Twitter accounts about Abr Arvan’s involvement 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 reveal precise information about the company’s activities.
However, until the time of preparing this report, 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 focus on the unrivaled virtual giant, Digikala. This mega online store has everything from cars and motorcycles to the smallest kitchen essentials in its sales basket.
Some sources report the presence of beneficiaries close to the government among the main managers and shareholders of this vast enterprise. 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 apps have also entered the competition with Digikala in recent years, none of these competitors have succeeded in capturing the market so far. User observations 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 excluded from the competition. Now, for 10 days, Digikala has been the sole player in the field, solidifying its position in the online store sector more than ever.
3. Internet taxis
Snapp and Tap30 are two large providers of online taxi services to Iranian citizens, which, given the recent restrictions, have seen their competitors pushed out of the market.
Although competition in the internet taxi sector may not be as close and heated as in other online business fields, it cannot be denied that Snapp and Tap30 benefit from this internet suppression environment.
Even though Snapp has made extensive investments in expanding its activity range in recent years, reports indicate a very high share of online taxi services in Snapp’s revenue. Tap30, however, has been a manageable competitor for Snapp, but the environment is strangely non-competitive and in favor of these two large companies.
Even in recent years, one of Iran’s very popular and famous athletes attempted to establish an online taxi company, but in less than six months, this new competitor was eliminated, and once again, the market monopoly was in the hands of Snapp and Tap30.
Domestic messengers
The issue of domestic messengers benefiting from the internet shutdown is not limited to today or yesterday. In fact, the project of launching a national internet began when the issue of non-cooperation by messengers like Viber, Line, Telegram, and WhatsApp with the Islamic Republic intensified.
In this regard, dozens of so-called knowledge-based companies were established, whose disastrous output can be seen in the records of apps like Bale, Soroush, and other ineffective and non-functional messengers. Even in 2020, the then Minister of Communications criticized the inefficiency of these messengers 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 substantial funding from the parliament and some quasi-governmental institutions to develop their work. But these days, given the lack of access to reputable foreign messengers, people still show no inclination to use these notorious and ineffective apps.
However, given the alignment of the government and parliament in adopting hardline positions, it is expected that as soon as the current conditions are overcome and the protests temporarily subside, domestic messengers will once again sew a sack for the country’s public resources and throw the nation’s investments into a bottomless pit whose futility has been proven time and again.
The next part of this article, titled ‘Disaster in Iran’s Economy: Internet Shutdown Turns Economic Growth Negative,’ has been published as part two.
Iran Gate has also exclusively analyzed and reviewed the internet shutdown.
- What is the cost of Instagram filtering and internet shutdown?
- Who is stepping on Iran’s internet cable?