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 electoral promises, and tomorrow the first meeting 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 meeting.
Tomorrow, on the 9th of Mehr 1403 (October 1, 2024), the first meeting of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace in the fourteenth government will be held with the presence of Masoud Pezeshkian, the current President. This meeting takes place while less than three months have passed since the formation of the fourteenth government, and the technological demands of the people have reached a peak.
Tomorrow’s meeting of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace will be held with the presence of the newly appointed ministers of the fourteenth government. It remains to be seen whether the first meeting of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace will have a significant achievement in responding to the technological demands of the people. The Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Head of the Judiciary, the Head of the National Broadcasting Organization, 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. Also, Hojjatoleslam Seyed Saeedreza Ameli, Reza Taghipour, Rasoul Jalili, Seyed Ezzatollah Entezami, and Mohammad Hossein Entezari are among the real members of this council.
Lifting internet restrictions and a fundamental review of filtering policies have always been one of the main demands of the people in recent years. It is noteworthy 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 six years since the filtering of Telegram and two 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 plan is being written regarding the issue of filtering to eliminate the existing frameworks. The issue of cyberspace is on the agenda, and we will also talk about it in the Security Council for a conclusion, and we are pursuing its implementation. The President also said about the timing of lifting the filter that we are trying to make it happen 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 not acceptable. The Minister of Communications and Information Technology of the fourteenth government, in his first encounter with journalists, considered the issue of filtering and communication quality as a concern of 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 needs to be redesigned and reviewed, and efforts should be made to resolve the filtering issue through persuasion, community-building, and consensus.’
We will resolve the filtering issue through consensus-building and persuasion. Sattar Hashemi, in his first encounter with journalists, said, ‘Our approach to the issue of filtering will be proactive, and we consider ourselves obligated in this regard. Due to the nature of the services of the Ministry of Communications, we are in direct contact with the people and need to conduct expert work. We must build consensus and agreement on the filtering situation to provide a suitable solution to the policy-making layer. This is a point that must be pursued entirely with a persuasive, principled, and expert perspective, free from emotional space.’
We hope for breakthroughs. He also added in this regard, ‘We know that the current methods do not meet the needs of cyberspace governance, but as the executor 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 for breakthroughs. Sattar Hashemi also responded to the question of where the review should start by saying, ‘The first thing we do in the review is to invite all stakeholders so we can reach a conclusion with an expert perspective and using the capacities of the country’s elites. Our emphasis is that this review should be pursued persuasively and expertly. This is an issue that must be addressed in an expert space.’
Hossein Afshin: I am against class-based internet.
One of the problems that widespread filtering has brought in recent years is the formation of class-based internet in the layers of society. Free and unfiltered internet was provided for some users from the second half of 2021 after restrictions were applied to 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 debate over 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 in poor taste and should not have been announced at all, and I personally disagree with class-based internet.’
Now it remains to be seen whether in tomorrow’s meeting 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, including the formation of class-based internet. Until the moment of writing this report, the agenda of tomorrow’s meeting 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 or not.
