Will the filtering be lifted?
Will the filtering be lifted? The fourteenth government came to power with a multitude of technological demands from the people and numerous election promises, and tomorrow the first session of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace in this government will be held. It remains to be seen whether addressing the people’s demands, with the lifting of filtering at the forefront, will be on the agenda of tomorrow’s session.
Tomorrow, on the ninth of Mehr 1403 (October 2024), the first session of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace in the fourteenth government will be held with the presence of Masoud Pezeshkian, the current president. This session is being held less than three months after the formation of the fourteenth government, amid skyrocketing technological demands from the people.
Tomorrow’s session of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace will be held with the presence of the fresh ministers of the fourteenth government, and it remains to be seen whether the first session will have a significant achievement in responding to the people’s technological demands. The Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the head of the judiciary, the head of the IRIB, the Minister of Communications, Sattar Hashemi, the Minister of Science, the Minister of Education, and the Vice President for Science, Technology, and Knowledge-based Economy, Hossein Afshin, are among the legal members of this council, and Seyed Mohammad Aghamiri is the secretary of this council. Additionally, Hojjat al-Islam Seyed Saeedreza Ameli, Reza Taghipour, Rasoul Jalili, Seyed Ezzatollah Entezami, and Mohammad Hossein Entezari are also among the real members of this council.
Lifting internet restrictions and fundamentally reconsidering filtering policies have always been one of the main demands of the people in recent years. It is worth mentioning that the latest survey by the Iranian Students Polling Agency (ISPA) also indicates the failure of filtering in the country and the preference for foreign platforms over Iranian ones, despite nearly 6 years since the filtering of Telegram and 2 years since the widespread filtering of Instagram, WhatsApp, and other foreign platforms.
Masoud Pezeshkian: Removing filtering frameworks is on the agenda.
Masoud Pezeshkian, in his first press conference with journalists, which was recently held, announced that removing filtering frameworks is on the agenda. He further stated that a program is being written regarding the issue of filtering to eliminate the existing frameworks. The topic of cyberspace is on the agenda, and we will also discuss it in the Security Council for a conclusion and pursue its implementation. The president also mentioned that they are trying to execute the lifting of the filter as soon as possible.
Promises of Seyed Sattar Hashemi, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, regarding filtering.
The current situation due to the use of VPNs is unacceptable. The Minister of Communications and Information Technology of the fourteenth government, in his first encounter with journalists, considered the issue of filtering and the quality of communications a concern for the people and said, ‘We know the demands of the people. The current situation due to the use of VPNs is not acceptable according to expert evidence. This issue must be redesigned and reconsidered, and efforts should be made to resolve the filtering issue through persuasion, community building, and consensus.’
We will resolve the filtering issue through consensus and persuasion. Sattar Hashemi, in his first encounter with journalists, stated that our approach to the issue of filtering will be an active one, and we consider ourselves obligated in this regard. Due to the nature of the services provided by the Ministry of Communications, we are in direct contact with the people, and we must conduct expert work. We need to create consensus and agreement on the filtering situation to present an appropriate solution to the policy-making layer. This is a point that must be pursued completely based on a persuasive, principled, and expert view, free from emotional space.
We hope to create openings. He also added in this regard, ‘We know that the current methods do not meet the governance needs of cyberspace, but as the implementer of policies, we are obliged to compile feedback and present it in the form of precise and defensible expert work to the policy-making layer, and we hope to create openings.’ Sattar Hashemi also responded to the question of where the review should begin by saying, ‘The first thing we will do in the review is to invite all stakeholders so that with an expert view and using the capacity of the country’s elites, we can reach a conclusion. Our emphasis is that this review should be pursued persuasively and expertly. This is an issue that needs to be addressed in an expert space.’
Hossein Afshin: I am opposed to class-based internet.
One of the issues that widespread filtering in recent years has brought about is the formation of class-based internet in layers of society. Free and unfiltered internet for some users has been provided since the second half of 1401 (2022) after restrictions were imposed on some foreign platforms, although officials in the field of communications and information technology denied this at the time.
In recent months, with the news of internet liberalization in Pardis Technology Park, the discussion of class-based internet and filtering has heated up again. Recently, Hossein Afshin, in his recent remarks and in response to this event, said, ‘In my opinion, the implementation of class-based internet in Pardis Technology Park and for some technologists and companies was a poor decision and should not have been announced at all, and I personally am not in favor of class-based internet.’
Now it remains to be seen whether in tomorrow’s session of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, which will be held with the presence of new members including Masoud Pezeshkian, Seyed Sattar Hashemi, and Hossein Afshin, there will be any mention of filtering and its consequences, such as the formation of class-based internet. Until the writing of this report, the agenda for tomorrow’s session of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace has not been published, and it remains to be seen whether addressing the issue of filtering will be on the agenda of this council tomorrow.